Housing supply value chain in relation to housing the urban poor

Housing the urban poor has continued to be a world challenge regardless of many research efforts, necessitating more research focus on details that constitute affordable housing supply. To achieve this, this study examined housing supply value chain by disintegrating it into its three main components of housing finance, land acquisition and housing construction; to thoroughly investigate each as it relates to the urban poor. A systematic review of academic literature was conducted to assess how components of housing supply value chain relate to the urban poor across the world. This study assembled 58 papers that were published from 2012 up to date in 2022, of which 16 were subject to detailed review, following screening. The review found that most scholars opine that better affordable housing provision strategies will merge both bottom-up and top-down approaches for balance. Land acquisition is relatively less discussed in literature. The review recommended that the three main activities involved in housing provision should be identified independently but tackled both independently and interdependently for a more comprehensive solution to the complicated sustainable affordable housing provision challenge across the world. The study is policy-oriented and the framework of effective affordable housing supply/provision approach devised in this study makes it useful for future research directions.