Julián Suárez Migliozzi
Representante de CAF -banco de desarrollo de América Latina-, Chile
The housing problem in Latin America and the Caribbean is not merely a matter of supply shortages; it is, above all, a problem of scale. The region has developed solutions, gained experience, and mobilized resources, but it has not yet managed to generate responses at the pace demanded by its urban reality.
The 13th World Urban Forum (WUF13), organized by UN-Habitat and taking place from May 17 to 22, 2026, in Baku, once again places this challenge at the center of the global debate. It is no small matter: nearly 2.8 billion people worldwide live in inadequate housing conditions. But beyond the scale of the problem, the key question is another: how can we turn good experiences into replicable and sustainable solutions at a large scale?
Latin America and the Caribbean approaches this debate from a position of structural tension. It is one of the most urbanized regions in the world—more than 80% of its population lives in cities—but a significant proportion of that growth occurs outside formal mechanisms for accessing land and housing. Between one-fifth and one-quarter of the urban population—according to UN-Habitat and ECLAC—lives in informal settlements, while the recently published Latin American and Caribbean Housing Yearbook, produced by CAF and the Lincoln Institute of Land Policy, estimates that more than 30% of the urban population lives in inadequate conditions, and that 23% of housing units require urgent improvements.
This pattern is not coincidental and is not merely a housing phenomenon. It stems from the interplay of highly restricted land markets, shallow financing systems, and uneven institutional capacities, particularly at the subnational level. The result is a pattern of urban expansion without adequate planning that pushes millions of households to the periphery, makes the provision of services more expensive, increases pressure on land, and deepens inequalities in access to opportunities. In this context, the solution lies not only in building new housing but also in improving the existing housing stock: upgrading, densifying, and integrating.
Added to this complexity is a central constraint: financing. In most countries in the region, mortgage credit remains low relative to GDP, with particularly difficult scenarios in contexts of higher labor informality.
At the same time, subnational governments—key actors in the implementation of urban policies—operate with tight fiscal margins. The result is a recurring pattern: expansion toward the periphery, higher costs for delivering services, and households that end up paying more—in both time and money—to access urban opportunities.
Given this scenario, the discussion can no longer focus solely on building more housing; it is about creating better cities. In this vein, at CAF we have oriented our work toward an integrated approach to the built environment, understanding housing as part of a broader system: location, connectivity, access to services, affordability, safety, and resilience. This implies shifting from a sectoral logic to a territorial logic, where land, financing, infrastructure, and management capacities are combined to generate sustainable solutions.
Within this agenda, affordable rental housing emerges as a solution worth considering. In many countries, lower-income households already access housing through this mechanism, although often under informal conditions or at costs that exceed their ability to pay. Regulating this market, expanding the formal supply, and attracting private investment is part of the solution.
The good news is that CAF-supported initiatives demonstrate that progress in this direction is possible. In Buenos Aires, our work with the City Housing Institute has enabled us to combine socio-urban integration, the improvement of existing housing, and infrastructure investment in established neighborhoods, with direct impacts on quality of life. In Ecuador, mortgage portfolio securitization programs have made it possible to channel capital market resources toward housing finance, increasing the system’s liquidity and improving access to credit.
Scale remains the major challenge. Public resources alone are insufficient, and private sector participation requires a significant effort to adapt regulatory frameworks and innovate in financial solutions, in addition to developing well-structured projects that reduce risks and build trust.
In this context, WUF13 represents an opportunity to make progress on three specific fronts: developing financing mechanisms that also work in informal settings; consolidating regulatory frameworks that allow for more predictable private participation; and scaling up intervention models for the existing housing stock.
Latin America is not starting from scratch. It has valuable experience, capabilities, and lessons learned. The challenge now is to turn those lessons into operational solutions that other countries can also adapt.
