Green Affordable Housing Finance

Ready for organisations to deliver green certified homes

Reall’s Green Affordable Housing Finance is an innovative finance solution tackling the global housing crisis and climate challenge. Backed by leading climate finance partners, GAHF unlocks affordable, green homes for low-income families—especially women-led households—through gender-responsive guarantees and technical support.

Following a successful feasibility study, GAHF is ready to pilot in Kenya, delivering green-certified homes, catalyzing millions in housing finance, and driving measurable climate impact. By combining financial innovation with sustainability, GAHF creates pathways to inclusive homeownership and climate-smart urban development.

To learn about the instrument in detail, read our Instrument Overview and Instrument Analysis.

Overview

Green Affordable Housing Finance Instrument Overview

Green Affordable Housing Finance Instrument Analysis

Feasibility Study

Following an extensive feasibility study (2024–2025), GAHF has validated its market readiness and developed a robust framework to catalyze systemic change in housing finance. The study confirmed:

Strong market demand for green affordable housing in Kenya and similar emerging markets.
Gender-responsive financial instruments, including the innovative Income Stabilization Guarantee (ISG), which mitigates income volatility risks for informal earners and incentivizes lenders to serve women borrowers.
A comprehensive Enabling Environment Facility (EEF) to provide technical assistance, capacity building, and alternative credit assessment tools, ensuring ecosystem-wide adoption of sustainable practices.
A phased implementation strategy to pilot in Kenya, leveraging partnerships with local financial institutions and developers committed to IFC EDGE-certified green building standards.

GAHF is projected to deliver green-certified homes for 11,000 people, catalyze USD 38M in housing finance, and achieve measurable climate impact—avoiding over 8,000 tonnes of CO₂ emissions and saving 1.7 million m³ of water during its initial five-year pilot.

By addressing structural barriers in housing finance and embedding sustainability at scale, GAHF represents a transformative pathway for inclusive, climate-smart urban development.

Next steps include launching the Kenya pilot and expanding to other Sub-Saharan and South Asian markets.

A ground-breaking model

Green Affordable Housing Finance, developed by Reall and endorsed by the Lab, is a green financial instrument designed to foster the adoption of sustainable mortgage lending to low-income earners for green affordable homes.

Note: Reall is not seeking investment at this stage. Organisations can utilise the feasibility study outcomes to further develop and adapt the model as needed. Please inform/seek formal approval from Reall before using the feasibility study and/or adapting the model.

By Email:

Patrick Domingos-Tembwa

Director of Commercial Build and Transitions

[email protected]

Instrument mechanics

Pilot in Kenya

Kenya is where the affordable housing market is critically constrained, but where the impact potential is high. With homeownership in Kenya as low as 21%, Kenya exists as a microcosm for the global challenges and opportunities which characterise the green, affordable housing market for climate-smart affordable homes.

Through use of IFC’s EDGE certification, Reall estimates that 30 million tons of CO2e (carbon dioxide equivalent) could be avoided in meeting Kenya’s deficit of two million houses. The pilot will employ technology developed by alternative credit assessor, Syntellect, which has been used to secure 14,000 mortgages for unbanked households in India.

Target geography

Once piloted in Kenya, the model can be launched into other markets, boosting available capital for green developers, and expanding homeownership into further untapped markets.

Revolutionising credit-scoring

Syntellect, led by its visionary CEO Sumedha Naik, empowers underserved consumers in the Indian market with innovative credit scoring technologies, creating new pathways to financial inclusion and prosperity. Listen to firsthand accounts from some of these underserved consumers as they share their stories.