ToR: Research assignment on Long term finance in the African housing sector
Call for proposals
CAHF seeks to appoint a housing finance specialist consultant to write a focus note on long-term financing in the African housing sector. The consultant will be expected to provide insights into how long term finance can be stimulated to help the continent reach is employment and growth potential. The paper should present the current regulatory environment and identify financing vehicles and instruments, and institutional, legal and regulatory reforms that will increase long-term financing in housing in Côte d’Ivoire and also serve as a technical model to steer the application of the research results across Africa. The paper will be presented during an in-country stakeholder workshop that will take place in April 2018, and be used as a position paper and advocacy document for AUHF members in their respective countries.
Scope of work
The analysis to be undertaken by the consultant relates to identifying financing vehicles and instruments, and institutional, legal and regulatory reforms that will increase long-term financing of housing:
A. Creation of data request templates: As the foundation for the data collection efforts to be undertaken, the consultant will develop data request templates specifying the data that it would be desirable to collect as part of the in-country diagnostics – whether from key stakeholders, off-site sources or available literature and reports. These templates will be developed prior to launching the data collection effort. Once the pilot diagnostic is completed they will be reviewed in assembling lessons learnt- see point J below. As it is a natural bias of interviewers to seek to fill existing templates, emphasis should be laid on the fact that re-designing a new template with new/additional data is just as important as qualifying the quality and availability of data included in the first template.
B. Identification of financing instruments: As part of the preparation of mission activities the consultant will (a) identify the most relevant institutions currently active in the market for housing finance; and (b) undertake pre-mission identification of the issues to be addressed with in-country counterparts (including selected banks, microfinance institutions, other NBFIs, professional associations, regulators, registries of property and mortgages, credit bureau operators etc.).
C. Preparing structured interview questions: the consultant will prepare a set of structured interview questions addressing the following areas:
– Current capacity to support preparation of housing investments (‘bankable projects’);
– Business environment and the informal sector;
– Current available channels (vehicles and instruments) of long-term financing for housing investments;
– Potential for long-term financing from local institutional investors;
– Liquidity and long term resources of financial institutions;
– Specific credit risk issues relating to long-term financing of real estate;
– Registration of real estate, liens on real estate, and other financial infrastructure issues;
– Existing risk-mitigants including use of real estate as collateral;
– Hindrances to the deepening of current financing methods and uptake of new modes of financing as well as identification of remedies (supporting institutional, legal and regulatory changes);
– Current and prospective government and IFI support schemes focusing on their track record, design strengths and weaknesses, and financial sustainability.
The purpose of the structured interviews will be to identify hindrances that may be preventing the provision of long-term funding to the housing sector and provide guidance on the design and impact of possible interventions and/or institutional/regulatory changes that are catalytic and support broadbased shifts in availability of private sector funding.
D. Meeting with project sponsors/investors/authorities: Working with the LTF team the consultant will participate in a mission to Côte d’Ivoire to meet with the relevant authorities (ministries and regulators), current providers of long-term funding (lenders and institutional investors) to the housing sector, and other relevant parties (professional associations, authorities responsible for property and mortgage registration etc.) to fully explore the subject areas outlined in these TORs and the specific data requests developed by the consultant.
E. Preparation and consultation regarding findings: In conjunction with the mission the consultant will produce a report on her/his findings. This report will use the findings of the data collection efforts and engagement with key stakeholders, including the on-site interviews, to identify hindrances / bottlenecks / constraints to the provision of long-term funding. The consultant will benchmark the current availability of financing to the housing sector drawing on case-studies from other countries to advise on the current situation in Côte d’Ivoire and on reforms that could strengthen the provision of long-term funding.
F. Soliciting views as to data to be included in the LTF Scoreboard: While the focus of the in-country diagnostics will be to assemble data on individual funding instruments, the diagnostic team will in parallel collect the views of the private sector on data availability and the type of data that private sector counterparts would like to see included in the LTF scoreboard.
G. Finalizing diagnostic report: Following the main mission the consultant will work with the LTF team in finalizing the mission report. This will entail inter alia incorporating feedback received, clarifying findings, adding materials relating to case-studies from other countries found to be relevant to the experiences of Côte d’Ivoire.
H. In-country stakeholder workshop: The consultant will participate in an in-country stakeholder workshop. The purpose of this workshop is to validate the findings of the diagnostic as well as to review the appropriateness of the deployed methodology, and to reflect on whether and, if so, how to modify the methodology in rolling-out the in-country diagnostic approach to other countries beyond the pilot phase.
I. Finalized diagnostic assessment: The consultant will contribute to finalizing the in-country diagnostic assessment based on the feedback received at the stakeholder workshop.
J. Methodology review: Subsequent to completing the pilot in-country diagnostic the consultant will contribute to reviewing the methodology of the diagnostic approach with a view to proposing improvements that can be incorporated in subsequent in-country diagnostics.