IV REGIONAL HOUSING FORUM 2026. From Diagnosis to Action: Transforming Housing Markets in Latin America and the Caribbean

The 4th Regional Housing Forum 2026 addresses the housing challenge in Latin America and the Caribbean, where 81.2% of the population is urban, and approximately 69.5 million homes face some form of housing deficit. It highlights that the main challenge is qualitative (78%) rather than quantitative (22%). Structural barriers to addressing this issue include the fiscal fragility of local governments, limited access to credit for informal-sector and low-income households, outdated regulatory frameworks, fragmented territorial data, and severe access gaps affecting vulnerable groups such as female heads of household, people with disabilities, and Indigenous populations.
To move from diagnosis to action, the Forum proposes a comprehensive approach that includes introducing a new standardized methodology for measuring the housing deficit and the Housing and Urban Intelligence (HUI) platform. It also promotes construction industrialization; the adoption of Fintech and Proptech technologies; flexible housing models such as co-living and rental housing; and the strengthening of development banks through guarantees and financial instruments. In addition, it focuses on addressing the qualitative housing deficit, and a Discovery Paper outlines a comprehensive methodology to do so, to create an inclusive and resilient housing stock across the region.