Climate Champions
Jun 14, 2023
In the world’s most disaster-prone country, Build Change is leading a movement toward resilient housing—strengthening over 4,000 homes across the Philippines to protect lives, preserve livelihoods, and empower low-income families through safe, affordable retrofitting and financing solutions.
Partner: Build Change
Impact Systems: Infrastructure and Human Settlements / Finance
Direct Beneficiaries: 45,000 people
Nestled in the heart of the Pacific, the Philippines holds an ominous title: The World’s Most Disaster-Prone Country. Year after year, the nation battles against an unending torrent of typhoons, floods, earthquakes, and landslides. In 2019, a sobering estimate by Race to Resilience partner Build Change, revealed over 15 million precarious homes in urgent need of attention, most of them sheltering the country’s economically marginalized families. Just the following year, nature’s wrath laid bare the vulnerability of the Filipino people, affecting over 5 million lives and destroying more than 425,000 homes.
In this context, Build Change initiated a transformative concept: Resilient Housing. Beyond simply standing against the elements, resilient homes serve as bastions of security and prosperity, enhancing the occupants’ wealth, health, and well-being. These homes are more than mere structures; they save lives, safeguard possessions, generate jobs, and fuel local economies. They are a long-term, cost-effective response to the severe housing deficit, preventing livelihood losses, forced migration, and displacement in the wake of disasters.
In 2014, Build Change began a journey to strengthen Philippine homes, infusing engineering, technology, and innovative financing to create over 4,000 resilient buildings. This endeavour unearthed a significant market appetite for retrofitting loans, proving that low-income families could indeed afford these improvements. Further, it illuminated the willingness of private financial institutions to champion this cause, paving the way for resilient housing loan products.