The impact of housing finance policies on the right to adequate housing of those living in poverty 2012, para. 61
Paragraph- Paragraph text
- While such programmes developed in tandem with the evolution of housing microfinance, they have a significantly different approach, emphasizing community ownership and broader aspects of adequate housing such as location, access to infrastructure and services, and security of tenure. Community funds are less finance oriented and therefore interest rates on loans are usually lower than housing microfinance rates and loan periods are often longer, up to 25 years. Community funds require Government budgetary assistance and intense involvement by local and national Government in the planning and execution stages, in order to achieve the necessary scale, sustainability and technical assistance. It is still too early to assess the impact of community funds on the access to adequate housing for the poor, and more systemic and long-term research is required. However, the financial sustainability of community funds has already emerged as a problem. Owing to their large scale and reliance on multi-stakeholders, community funds depend largely on donor financial and technical support, which can prove erratic, and research indicates that community funds suffer from low repayment rates and high arrears. Additional concerns have been raised that the communal loans lead to internal conflicts and power imbalances within the borrower communities, owing to differences in repayment capabilities.
- Legal status
- Non-negotiated soft law
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on adequate housing as a component of the right to an adequate standard of living
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Means of adoption
- N.A.
- Topic(s)
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Person(s) affected
- N.A.
- Year
- 2012
- Paragraph type
- Other
- Reference
- SR Housing, Report to the UNGA (2012), A/67/286, para. 61.
- Paragraph number
- 61
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