An Essential Handbook for Governments and Practitioners

By 2030, UN-Habitat estimates that 40% of the global population will not have access to adequate housing. Investment in better housing must be prioritized if we are to protect people’s health and well-being and better withstand future crises. Such investment can go even further when we recognize that most people do not need new homes—they need better, more resilient homes—and that the majority of housing can be improved significantly through relatively simple, cost-effective solutions that already exist.

The Build Change Guide to Resilient Housing: An Essential Handbook for Governments and Practitioners consolidates Build Change’s experience developing home improvement programs in 24 countries since 2004. It is designed to support governments, funders, and practitioners with comprehensive guidance and practical tools to carry out successful resilient housing programs at scale. Build Change’s work has proven that resilient housing initiatives can be transformative and produce permanent change: they can save lives, protect the vulnerable, create jobs, spur local economies, and provide a cost-effective and long-term solution to the qualitative housing deficit that countries throughout the world are experiencing today.