An estimated 1.6 billion people are living in inadequate shelter globally – a crisis that has been exacerbated by a lack of attention to, and investment in, informal housing markets. With support from the Hilti Foundation, Habitat for Humanity’s Terwilliger Center for Innovation in Shelter is working to expand low-income families’ access to innovative housing products, services and financing through market-based solutions.

Since 2017, the Terwilliger Center has helped millions of people access improved housing solutions. These are families like Ed and Gina in the Philippines, who used the little money they had to hire an informally trained mason and selected inexpensive, ineffective materials. Ed and Gina made improvements to their home bit by bit — save a little, build a little – and after many years they had a place to call their own. But when Super Typhoon Odette struck, their home was significantly damaged. Now, with support from the Terwilliger Center, they are building back stronger than ever equipped with more knowledge and better materials, like EcoBricks produced by Green Antz.