Access to affordable housing is a global challenge. In the capital city of Ethiopia, Addis Ababa the projection of the deficit in housing for 2007 alone was up to 300,000. The construction in Addis Ababa is on the boom and there is a lot of real estates being developed. Moreover, 80 percent of the real estate in Addis Ababa is purchased by high-income residents and Ethiopians from the diaspora. The high prices of buildings and houses are beyond the financial reach of the majority of the resi-dents. 80 percent of the city population is classified as low income and live in crowded houses with inadequate sanitation facilities.

To tackle this challenge the Ethiopian government has delivered over 200,000 new houses to citi-zens through its Integrated Housing Development Program (IHDP), this puts the country at the forefront of affordable housing production in Africa. EiABC is working hand in hand with Addis Ababa city administration and with its partners Cordaid, Woreda 01 and WeLoveTheCity by developing a new urban development strategy for the Lideta neighbourhood. The proposed development strategy is based on three pillars which are innovating and green, upscaling and showcase and reinvesting and everyone stays. These pillars are based on five core steps that should
guarantee that people can stay in their neighbourhood and have the chance to improve their living conditions in housing, work, food supply, health, education, security and sport.