Climate Change Mitigation & Adaptation through Publically-Assisted Housing: Theoretical Framework for the IDB's Regional Policy Dialogue on Climate Change

In both developed and developing countries, sustainable and resilient public housing construction has been described as a convenient solution to the simultaneous challenges of 1) climate change mitigation, 2) adaptation to the impacts of climate change, and 3) insufficient housing supply. Indeed, designing, installing, and maintaining "green" land and construction techniques within national public housing programs has the potential for allaying a portion of these formidable challenges as they are most likely to be realized in the Latin American and Caribbean Region. Sustainable and resilient housing construction also yields long-term economic and social benefits in additional to environmental ones. The vehicles for this solution, however, are complex, constrained, and evolving.