Housing for a Changing Climate: The Three Billion Left Out
About the Session
More than three billion people worldwide live in inadequate housing. As climate risks intensify, the consequences of that housing crisis are becoming even harder to ignore.
Housing sits at the intersection of some of the biggest development challenges: poverty, health, economic opportunity, urbanization, and climate resilience. For communities on the frontlines of the climate crisis, where and how homes are built can determine exposure to extreme heat, flooding, storms, and other hazards.
Yet much of the world's housing does not fit neatly within formal systems. In South Africa, for example, backyard housing and other forms of informal rental accommodation provide homes for millions of people but can remain overlooked by conventional housing policy, finance, and infrastructure.
This session will explore what it takes to expand access to housing that is affordable, resilient, and appropriate to local realities. It will look at sustainable housing in South Africa alongside wider global challenges, including how offline-first digital tools and other practical innovations can make technical knowledge more accessible to communities and those building on the ground.
The central question is simple but difficult: how do we improve housing at the scale required without leaving behind the people and places most exposed to a changing climate?
Discussion Group Leaders
Ines Lambertini is Director Strategic Growth TECHO at TECHO, advancing strategic growth and partnerships that support community-led solutions to poverty and inadequate housing.
Joel Herold is VP of Technology at Build Change, advancing technology solutions that strengthen resilient housing and safer communities.
What to Expect
A practical conversation about housing as essential social and climate infrastructure. Participants will explore informal housing markets, resilient construction, technology, accessibility, and the policy and financing conditions needed to improve housing at scale.
The discussion will connect global ambitions around sustainable housing with the realities of how people actually find, build, rent, and improve their homes.
Who This Is For
This session is for housing and urban development practitioners, policymakers, funders, investors, architects and built-environment professionals, technologists, community organizations, and climate resilience leaders.
What You Will Get Out of It
A clearer view of how housing connects climate resilience, development, and economic opportunity
Insights from informal and backyard rental housing in South Africa
Approaches to improving housing for communities exposed to growing climate risks
Examples of how accessible digital tools can support resilient housing
Ideas for bringing informal housing realities into policy, finance, and urban planning