FOCUS AREA
Affordable Housing & Technology
Adequate housing is a human right
A safe place to call home is a prerequisite for social and economic development.
Globally, an estimated 1.6 billion people live in substandard housing. This has significant consequences for their health and livelihood.
As a priority, we help develop innovative products and technologies that meet the needs of informal and low-income environments, and create skills, jobs and livelihood.
AFFORDABLE HOUSING & TECHNOLOGY
Our engagement is organized into three initiatives:
Discover and promote innovation
We discover and support stakeholders globally who develop technologies, products and services for safer construction in vulnerable areas of the Southern Hemisphere. The Innovation Centers of the Hilti Group and the Base Bahay Foundation (an initiative of the Hilti Foundation) help these stakeholders test and improve their products. We focus on six priorities: affordability, durability, disaster resilience, usability, environmental performance and local embeddedness.
Train the builders
The best technology will not help to make housing safer if it is not implemented correctly. Together with our partners, we therefore raise awareness among self-managed and informal builders to engage in better construction practices that use of innovative, high-quality building materials in low-cost environments. We also partner with public authorities and private firms to integrate certified training programs for informal builders into their portfolio.
Connect & globalize
Better skills and improved housing products alone will not lead to sustainable social impact for families in need. Basic issues such as access to health care services, education and public infrastructure (water, energy and mobility) need to be addressed. By forming coalitions for social change with partners from a range of different sectors, we take an active role in connecting our work with the initiatives of other change agents, ensuring that the impact generated is inclusive, sustainable and ambitious in scale.
Read more about our projects
Base Bahay Foundation
Construya
A bamboo construction eco-system for social housing in Negros Occidental, Philippines
PLANS ON A LARGE SCALE
Our approach to affordable housing
What does it mean to have a place you can call ‘home’? Globally, one in four people live in what is called substandard housing – which has serious effects on their safety, health, economic opportunities and social inclusion. Follow the story of ‘Affordable housing & technology’ of the Hilti Foundation to learn how housing technologies can serve people in need as a starting point into a better life.
