Housing Finance: Facilitate Access for Families to Healthy and Secure Housing

This policy statement on housing finance introduces principles and lessons that Développement international Desjardins (DID) has acquired in its experience implementing and accompanying housing finance in developing countries.

Sound and lasting housing enables growth of family wealth, a major factor in improving living conditions and inclusion. DID believes that:

• Access to sound housing is a basic need that mature MFIs can contribute to;
• Housing loans are advantageous for MFIs and clients, and represent low to moderate risk;
• Family residences represent potential for additional income and should be considered when evaluating a loan application;
• Financial institutions should offer products on a priority basis to known clients;
• MFIs should progressively serve non-salaried and salaried clients with housing microcredit and mortgage loans;
• Housing loans should be processed in a different way from other products, because they are more complex to analyze, evaluate and disburse;
• Discipline and standardization are required to put together housing loan account files;
• Lending institutions should provide support and education to borrowers with regard to housing loans;
• Women still find it difficult to access housing loans and special efforts should be made to reach them.