Open Access Initiative Concept Note

African cities have some the highest global rates of urbanisation, population and household growth   – in some cities as high as 6 percent. Without the supply of adequate, affordable, and sustainable housing at scale, housing backlogs continue to grow alarmingly: Nigeria claims a backlog of 19 million units; in Kenya, the housing backlog is estimated at about 2 million units, growing at over 350 000 units per annum; and in South Africa, notwithstanding its ambitious subsidised housing programme the backlog persists at an estimated 2 million units. Annual delivery rates of formal, developer driven housing, are nowhere near what is needed to meet current needs, let alone future projections. As a result, most households build and finance their housing independently – and often poorly. Governments continue to struggle to address the challenge and the private sector looks away, towards other opportunities. The Open Access approach asserts that when public money is invested into a development initiative it should have a twin-objective of (a) achieving the immediate development output (i.e. the building of houses) and  (b) supporting broader market development.  In order to achieve the latter, the sharing of data and information related to the investment experience becomes a condition of investment, expressly outlined in the Investment Side Letter. This document sets out the proposed approach to implementing the Open Access concept, which starts with the collection of key data alongside the affordable housing investment process.