At the heart of the discussions was the imperative to address a national housing deficit estimated at 2.5 million units. Due to lack of available financial resources or absence of a precise timeline, the exchanges primarily focused on the need to establish milestones for innovative financial engineering, essential to meet household demand and support large-scale production.

The complexity of the undertaking lies in the dual requirement of financing upstream — namely, heavy construction investments carried out by developers — and downstream, which concerns access to property ownership through long-term, sustainable credit for buyers. Discussions thus highlighted the need to articulate public capital, bank financing, and private investment through adapted guarantee structures.

In this perspective, the support of the UN agency will prioritize providing technical expertise to design these market instruments and structure construction programs capable of reaching low-income populations.


Beyond purely financial aspects, the dialogue reaffirmed the centrality of land tenure and territorial planning in the housing equation. Legal securing of land, its servicing, and connection to primary networks remain sine qua non conditions for reducing construction costs and curbing the proliferation of informal settlements.


By privileging the use of local materials and rationalizing urbanization, Yaoundé aims to transform this social challenge into a lever for inclusive growth, thereby initiating a phase of technical harmonization with its international partners.


Nlend Flore

Tags: cameroun onu-habitat logement social financement urbain résilience urbaine services urbains planification territoriale matériaux locaux quartiers informels ingénierie financière