Urban poverty is a massive and growing issue, but it is often poorly understood, underestimated and unrecognised. Almost one billion people – a sixth of the world’s total population – live in slums, and this figure will increase to 1.4 billion by 2020 if urgent action is not taken to address urban poverty.
Homeless International supports community-led housing and infrastructure related development in partnership with local partner organisations in Africa and Asia. The initiatives are all led, developed and managed by the local community groups themselves.
Why we make a difference
Homeless International is different from many other charities because we work within long-term relationships with our partners, rather than providing one-off grants for short-term projects. This means we can develop new initiatives with our partners over a number of years. We are also unique in the way we develop new financial products that enable poor communities to access affordable finance for slum upgrading initiatives.
How we make a difference
- We create lasting relationships with our partners, within which there is confidence to create solutions to the challenge of urban poverty.
- We provide a range of financial services that organisations of the urban poor need to realise their rights to safe and secure shelter.
- We support projects that are led by poor communities, and provide resources and technical assistance as necessary.
- We use our networks to promote community-led processes, and to advocate for policy changes that will allow community-led development to be carried out on a larger scale.
- We provide a means for exchanging ideas between a wide range of people and organisations concerned about urban poverty.
- We raise awareness about the growing problem of urban poverty and keep it firmly on the international development agenda.
Use the links on the left to find out more about our work.
