Reflecting on the Intensive Affordable Housing Training Course

The one-week immersive training course and study tour in London (October 21st – 25th, 2024) brought together officials from Africa who are dedicated to advancing affordable housing initiatives across Africa and Asia. This programme was crafted to provide a balanced and practical learning experience, focused on the realities of building sustainable and scalable affordable housing systems.

Our objective was to equip participants with an understanding of the frameworks that support affordable housing and the challenges involved. Examining the UK housing sector, delegates studied successful affordable housing developments and explored the complex regulatory, financial, and environmental obstacles faced in the UK. Through a mixture of interactive presentations, site visits, and discussions, the programme encouraged delegates to reflect on how these lessons might inform and inspire approaches to similar challenges in emerging economies.

Delegates engaged with a range of real-world projects, from award-winning mixed-income developments and innovative regeneration projects to student housing models. Site visits and expert-led discussions highlighted achievements, as well as ongoing issues, such as community integration, environmental considerations, and regulatory hurdles. Additionally, networking opportunities and case studies facilitated an open discussion of ideas on effective policies, alternative tenure models, and green housing solutions.

Olu Olanrewaju, Director of Altair International shared his reflections on the programme:

“This knowledge exchange initiated by Altair International and Shelter Afrique has been invaluable—a journey of learning, sharing, and building sustainable solutions that transcend borders and build better futures for all communities. It demonstrated that whilst the UK housing sector has its imperfections, there are lessons of both successes and failures we can share with the world. 

Bringing together our diverse perspectives has shown that while our challenges may differ, our vision of accessible, affordable, and quality housing unites us.

This program has reinforced that housing is more than just shelter; it’s the foundation for thriving communities, and we at Altair International are committed to creating those communities across Africa. This partnership with Shelter Afrique has strengthened our resolve to bring impactful change to our communities.”

Feedback from our delegates underscores the programme’s impact and value in sparking new ideas and strategies:

“We had wonderful moments of learning, sharing, and discoveries together. Thank you to the whole team.” – Leaders Sénégalais

“It’s been awesome.  It’s opened my eyes to a lot of new things.  It’s given an international perspective to how real estate works.  Fascinating to learn how private developers have access to government grants.  Back home, developers are reliant on expensive loans, which makes it difficult for us to offer affordable homes.  Building materials used in the UK are different and, of course, better, to what we’re used to.  We’d like to pick some lessons to apply back home.” – Wasilah Abdulrahman, Modern Shelter

“It was a great pleasure to be part of this intense learning experience. Thank you, Altair and Shelter Afrique. Olu, you made it all seem so simple with your depth of knowledge and humility. I look forward to deepening our relationship and applying the learnings from the program in our continuing bid to solve our humongous housing challenges.” – Abdulmalik Mahdi, Modern Shelter

“We found this really interesting.  It actually shows us the scale at which housing needs to be provided.   In Nigeria we’re just scratching the surface.” – Danjuma Isa Osori, Modern Shelter

“I would definitely recommend the course to someone else.  I actually wish a couple more of my colleagues were here with me, it would help us bring our learnings back home.” – Yusuff Taiwo Qasim, Leptons Multiconcept

“It was an intense but very useful week. I learned and loved a lot.” – Mamadou Dieng, Banque de l’habitat du Sénégal

“The site visits, like Barking Riverside, are a giant stride and mind-blowing.  They’re something we want to tell colleagues about! I will definitely recommend.” – Suleiman Maciver, Modern Shelter

If you would like to find out more about Altair’s International services, visit our dedicated sector page or get in touch with Olu Olanrewaju.