Climate and Disaster Resilient Housing Bridging the Gap between Policy and Communities

In recent years, many developing countries have sought to establish an enabling environment for climate and disaster resilient housing through improved policy, standards, and financing. Despite significant progress at the national level to translate policy commitments into investments and support local solutions, resilient housing remains a widespread and systemic challenge. This gap is particularly felt by the poor and vulnerable, who bear a disproportionate share of climate and disaster impacts. Barriers remain in relation to translating resilient codes and standards into appropriate local solutions, adoption of local materials, local awareness and implementation capacity, and access to community-level financing for resilient pro-poor housing. These issues are further exacerbated when disasters occur. Resilient reconstruction provides a critical opportunity to lift communities out of poverty, rather than accelerate displacement and perpetuate their vulnerability to disasters and climate change impacts. The session will share diverse voices and good practices for bridging the gap between national resilient housing policy, financing, and delivery of resilient pro-poor housing, with an exchange of lessons and case studies between countries, development partners, Civil Society Organizations (CSOs), financiers and private sector. The session will assess the current state of play, explore the potential role of multilateral development banks (MDBs) to strengthen policy reforms, leverage knowledge, and provide finance that connects vulnerable communities to resilient housing solutions. The program will highlight practical examples of ‘what works’, prioritizing affordable, inclusive, and participative approaches which also build local capacity, boost local supply chains and achieve economic multipliers. Examples include localizing resilience standards and their enforcement, delivery of resilient housing through social protection programs, vernacular and local materials, capacity building through technical support and supervision, nature-positive solutions, participative planning, owner-led and incremental construction, community financing solutions, and digitization. The session will share examples such as the Tajikistan: Roadmap Report on Resilient Communities, developed by ADB and Miyamoto International, and Pakistan’s Sindh Emergency Housing Reconstruction Project, supported by ADB with other MDBs, where 250,000 (through ADB’s component) beneficiary-drive