International workshop held at HCU – 29-30 November 2018

In the context of ongoing debates about the financialization of housing international scholars and practitioners discussed the consequences of ongoing processes and developments in the field of housing microfinance. The term refers to small value, non-mortgage loans for purposes of home improvement and incremental building. Mainstream approaches in development policy see housing microfinances as a crucial strategy to help provide adequate shelter. In some regional contexts, national housing policies seek to incorporate these microcredit schemes into programs which aim at the upgrading of the self-built housing stock. The workshop critically reflected on these processes and the extent and implications of the marketization, institutionalization, and financialization of housing microfinance. Presentations explored housing policies centered on microfinance instruments and their socio-economic effects in different contexts.

Speakers: Ali Bhagat (Canada), Innocent Chirisa (Zimbabwe), Luisa Escobar (Hamburg), Alicia Gerscovich (Argentina), Judith Lehner (Hamburg), Astrid Ley (Stuttgart), Philip Mader (United Kingdom), Takawira Mubvami (Zimbabwe), Rachel Phillips (Canada), Paula Rosa (Argentina), Hayden Shelby (USA), Elena Solís (Mexico), Md. Ashiq Ur Rahman (Stuttgart)

The workshop was organized by Prof. Dr. Monika Grubbauer as part of the three-year research project Urbanization and finance in developing countries: marketization, institutionalization and internationalization of housing microfinance in Mexico funded by the German Science Foundation (DFG).