Kigali,2 November,2021-A globally attended event designed to accelerate access to affordable housing across Africa, the 2021 AUHF Conference was held at Marriot Hotel in Rwanda’s Capital Kigali. Officiated by the Minister of Infrastructure Honorable Amb.Claver Gatete, the event provided a platform for both in-person and virtual attendees to network, and an opportunity to showcase opportunities to regional and international leaders invested in growing the affordable housing sector. Speaking at the conference, Minister Claver Gatete thanked the organisers for bringing the AUHF 37th annual conference and Annual General Meeting in Rwanda.

 It gives us all, an opportunity to focus on affordable housing, as framed in Vision 2050 and the Rwandan National strategy for Transformation aimed at accelerating sustainable urbanisation from 18.4% to 35% by 2024. Minister reminded lenders, policy makers, regulators, developers, investors, and donor agencies from over 50 countries that, housing sector is a key driver to the economic development of any respective economy, and emphasized on teaming up the expertise to tackle the challenges of providing decent affordable housing to all, particularly lower income households.

 “With over 60 speakers, 100 in-person attendees from 15 countries and over 500 virtual delegates from 200 companies, the event has grown in size and impact, especially during the covid pandemic period. This has highlighted the need for safe, decent, well located and green affordable low-cost housing,” says the AUHF’s Chairman and CEO of Shelter Afrique, Andrew Chimphondah.

“As the global economy emerges from the covid-19 pandemic, this year’s theme, ‘A New Frontier in Affordable Housing in Africa’, provides Rwanda with an opportunity to be at the centre of Africa’s urbanisation and housing drive,” Mr. Chimphondah added.

Adding that hosting the annual gathering in Kigali in 2021 provides a unique occasion for the membership to get together and highlight the progress made by Rwanda in the fast moving sector.

The conference closely aligned with Sustainable Development goals of ending poverty by 2030 and promoting shared prosperity. Ensuring access to adequate, safe, and affordable housing is also part of Sustainable Development Goal #11, which commits the global community to making cities inclusive, safe, resilient and sustainable. The notion of inclusivity is particularly important as it relates to housing.  By 2030, the global population will reach over 8 billion, with almost 60 percent living in cities.

Urbanization is happening everywhere, but the transition is especially rapid in sub-Saharan Africa and some other developing economies. In the case of Rwanda, the target is to become an upper middle- income country by 2035 and target to have 50% urbanization as outlined in our Vision 2050. This indicates an increase of urban population of about 4 million people. According to a 2019 publication by the International Growth Centre (IGC,2019) on housing need in Kigali, at least 310,000 new housing units need to be constructed by 2032, implying an annual demand of over 26,000 new units. 

For secondary cities and other urban areas, the demand is estimated to be over 80,000 units in the next 10 years, equivalent to 8,000 units/year. Development of approximately 37,000 units is in pipeline across City of Kigali and other cities by 2024 but this is far from being sufficient.  

The AUHF is optimistic that the crisis has provided a platform and opportunity for the sector to break new ground across the entire housing value chain. “This calls for new innovative approaches to both the demand and supply sides and the introduction of new value adding products and services. This year’s conference seeks to showcase innovations that are well understood under the theme of “A new frontier in Affordable Housing in Africa”.