Learning Curves: Does Low-Income Housing Finance Help the Poor?

Abstract

The housing finance component had three objectives: (i) to increase access of low-income households to market-based housing finance through the formal sector; (ii) to facilitate improvements in housing conditions and quality of life; and (iii) to promote formal banking sector interest in serving the low-income sector of the housing market. The project required that only households with monthly incomes below the 55th percentile of Sri Lanka’s income distribution be eligible to borrow. Housing loans were provided through local banks and financial institutions. At completion, the project provided 28,378 housing loans.