Low-income communities are struggling to find affordable urban housing in Bangladesh’s cities. Millions are heading to cities to tap into economic opportunities, causing booming urban growth. But many of them are facing skyrocketing property prices, a dysfunctional rental market, and limited public housing. Local authorities are falling behind on delivering affordable housing schemes. The outcome: low-income communities pay exorbitant rents to live in slums with poor services and no tenure security.

Take Dhaka, the world’s most crowded city. Over 20 million people reside in Dhaka and more are moving in. At least one in every three people live in informal settlements. The situation is rooted in a fragmented housing delivery system: the government meets only 7 percent of the annual housing demand and relies heavily on the private sector to fill in the giant gap.