About AHI
Our Mission
Founded in 2000 and incorporated in 2002 as a U.S. §501(c)(3) non-profit organization, AHI is an impact consultancy that specializes in affordable housing policy, finance, and development around the world. We work with mission-oriented entities to address systemic obstacles to affordable housing and enable improvements in housing ecosystems through research and analysis, innovation, and action.
Today, our team of experts is based across three continents and operates globally, consulting any level of organization. Our consultants have years of experience in housing finance, investment, development, architecture, community development, urban upgrading, green and resilient housing, post-disaster recovery and redevelopment, and housing internally displaced people and refugees. Our clients include development banks, governments, private entities, community organizations and international NGOs.
Analyze
We understand housing through an ecosystem lens.
Innovate
We harness global best practices to design locally tailored products.
Act
We combine a diversity of technical perspectives and skills
The Challenge
Over 2 billion people will move to cities by 2030.
Rapid urbanization and growing populations bring the need for quality, affordable housing to the forefront of global concerns today. Chronically underperforming housing systems cannot keep up with the demand, driven by the pace of household formation, obsolescence of buildings, and land scarcity.
Urban Expansion
Over half of the global population lives in urban areas, a figure expected to be at 70% by 2050.
Housing Deficit
1.8 billion people lack access to adequate housing. By 2030, this number could rise to 3 billion.
Informal Housing
1.1 billion people live in slums.
Limited Mobility
Only half of the world’s urban population has convenient access to public transportation.
Our Approach
Creating affordable housing that works within a community is much more than just pouring concrete. We recognize the complexity of housing markets by analyzing housing through an ecosystem lens using our proprietary Value Chain Framework.
Going beyond a classic market study, the Housing Ecosystem approach includes a detailed mapping of the overall housing development process on both the supply- and demand-side value chains, allowing us to identify systemic gaps or blockages, and easily compare across countries and housing environments.
Assessing the health of the housing ecosystem on a granular and holistic level helps us to understand the ways in the value chain is being enabled or disabled, and empowers us to develop tailor made, high impact solutions. Our Ecosystem Approach lays the foundation for AHI to deliver value through all three project phases: assessment and analysis, product or program design, and program or entity implementation. [Value Change Graphic?]
Our Work
For over 20 years, we have created positive impact on affordable housing ecosystems around the world, formal and informal, at a range of income levels. Working directly with mission-oriented customers our solutions have included policy reforms, structured public-private partnerships, refinancing facilities, organizational growth business plans, and the design of financial products.
As recognized global thought leaders, we are sought-after speakers at regional and global affordable housing conferences, publish regularly both in print and via video, facilitate workshops and symposia, and teach Executive Education via longstanding relationships with Harvard Graduate School of Design and the University of Oxford’s Department for Continuing Education.
Our Services
1. Project and Program Consulting: we deliver tailored market analyses, policy recommendations, and product designs to a broad range of clients.
2. Strategic Growth Advisory: we help mission-oriented entities that have a positively disruptive innovation (product, service, or program) to scale by providing expert advice and guidance along their growth trajectory.
3. Impact Investment: we invest time and money in promising early-stage housing entities that are helping change or improve housing ecosystems.
4. Initiatives: We respond to critical areas of urgent change in the housing space by developing concepts and strategies for the issues at hand, launching awareness campaigns, and providing pro bono advice to key stakeholders. Examples include our Health Secure Housing Initiative in response to the global pandemic, and our ongoing Rehousing Ukraine in response to the war in Ukraine.
5. Thought Leadership: our theoretical work parallels and intersects with our consulting work for greater impact.
6. Executive Education: we share our knowledge by teaching extensively on the topic of affordable housing, both at discrete events as well as through recurring courses at Harvard’s Graduate School of Design and Oxford University.
(All statistics are sourced from the United Nations)