AHI is a housing finance policy and program innovator. As an innovator, AHI integrates existing knowledge of housing finance systems, develops a customized solution responsive the particular conditions of the local context, then convinces change-makers to implement the solution in order to generate real impact.



AHI provides services to housing policy makers, housing advocacy groups, educational institutions, and multi-lateral and bi-lateral donors. AHI`s standard services include system assessment, policy development, program design, monitoring and evaluation, with a particular focus on pilots which test programmatic innovations in practice. All of these services and products are guided by AHI`s three core beliefs:



Housing is like an ecosystem: the housing sector affects and is affected by many other sectors; it is best thought of as an evolving ecosystem. Like an ecosystem, it can be either healthy and self-sustaining, or diseased and inherently unstable; and like an ecosystem, it is complex, yet can be understood by employing strategic concepts which simplify without becoming overly reductive.

Housing problems are global, but solutions are local: there is great value in international dialogue on cross-cutting issues; but real change in housing ecosystems must be driven by local actors. We take very seriously the need to find partners in local markets in order to spark and sustain real improvement. Furthermore, our focus is worldwide: we do not exclude developed countries, which face their own particular challenges and which often have a history of housing interventions from which valuable lessons can be extracted.

Public-private partnerships are necessary for sustainable solutions to housing problems: the scale and nature of housing ecosystems are such that the public and private sectors must act in concert if sustainable improvements are to be realized. Only solutions which align public and private capital can reliably achieve system-wide outcomes. Ultimately, this means that `hard` [market rate and terms] capital must be strategically blended with `soft` [below market rate] capital.



Founded in 2002 by David Smith, the founder and President of Recap Advisors, AHI is a private, non-profit 501[c][3] consultancy.



AHI was built on experience in US affordable housing with the use of public-private partnership model for affordable housing. AHI was founded in the belief that the public-private model produces better affordable housing outcomes than either a pure private or pure public approach. US experience in affordable housing provides many lessons of what to do and what not to do; but it does not provide a blueprint for success which can simply be copied elsewhere. The key lesson of the US experience is that details like place, timing, and community matter.



Because of his experience handling transactions which preserve affordable housing through innovative legal and financial structuring, David Smith has often been called on to give input and testimony in US housing circles. In 2002, however, a request came from the UK to support the development of a new approach to housing finance there. This led to his decision to create and provide seed funding for AHI as a broader vehicle to engage in the international housing policy arena.