Funders and Partners
CAHF has benefited from the active support of its funders and partners. Core funders have supported the overall mission, while programme and project funders have focused on specific areas of CAHF’s work.
Agence Française de Développement (AFD)
The French Development Agency has supported CAHF since late 2016,with core funding to grow our work in Francophone Africa and then across the entire continent. AFDs support has allowed CAHF to blue sky, building the argument for investment in affordable housing and identifying the blockages needing to be overcome from one country to the next.
African Union for Housing Finance
The African Union for Housing Finance is, of course, a primary partner, providing a monthly retainer fee for CAHF’s service as Secretariat. It is a symbiotic relationship: while CAHF is the Secretariat of the AUHF, the AUHF also consumes the work that CAHF does, broadening its impact especially among players in the private sector.
FSDAfrica, supported by UKaid
FSDAfrica, supported by UKaid, has been a supporter of CAHF since its founding in May 2014. The initial 5-year, core funding programme, stretched to end in March 2020. Thereafter, FSDA Investments provided programme funding for CAHF’s Open Access Initiative.
FSD Kenya
FSD Kenya has been a strong supporter of CAHF’s work, providing funding for its Kenya Programme since CAHF assisted FSD Kenya develop its strategy for affordable housing in 2020. This allowed CAHF to establish a satellite ‘office’ in Kenya, with two permanent staff and one intern.
The Lincoln Institute of Land Policy
The Lincoln Institute of Land Policy is supporting CAHF in a project exploring the economics of an inner-city area in Nairobi, Kenya, to determine whether the interests in land and property might be differently aligned to realise better housing outcomes.
UN Habitat
CAHF has entered into an Agreement of Cooperation with UN Habitat to support its work in the Francophone region. This support was first realized in the Abidjan Conference hosted by CAHF and the AUHF together in January 2025, and then in support for CAHF’s engagement with the Centre for Excellence in Housing, a Francophone-based housing data and research centre. This allowed CAHF to establish a satellite ‘office’ in Dakar, with one member of staff.
Cities Support Programme
CAHF’s work in South Africa has been supported primarily by the Cities Support Programme, which is a programme of the South African National Treasury. The funding was managed by an agreement with the Government Technical Advisory Centre (GTAC). This grant has come to an end.
Reall
In 2019, CAHF was awarded a contract from Reall, to develop Market Shaping Indicators for Reall and to collect this data in Reall’s priority countries. This led to the establishment of a partnership for the wider implementation of CAHF’s Data Agenda for Africa.
Finmark trust
CAHF was originally established as a division of the FinMark Trust and then supported for a further year after its establishment in May 2014.
National Housing Finance Corporation
The National Housing Finance Corporation provided CAHF with funding for its South Africa programme for 1,5 years. NHFC’s Nomsa Ntsingila sits on CAHF’s Board.
Project funders
Tenure Support Centre (TSC)
The Tenure Support Centre (TSC) was started in July 2018 as an action-research project by CAHF and 71point Consulting. The TSC helps clients overcome titling issues including securing primary transfer on properties that have never been formally transferred from government to housing subsidy beneficiaries, formalising transactions that have taken place informally in the past and resolving other transactional complexities such as transferring properties out of deceased estates.
Initial funders for the TSC have included the Cities Support Programme of National Treasury and TUHF21, both in South Africa. More recently, the TSC has been supported by Oppenheimer Generations Foundation through two successive grants beginning in 2020, and the First Rand Empowerment Foundation. In addition, the TSC has benefitted from in-kind donations from FNB, which provides a confidential and trusted location for the TSC in their bank branch in Khayelitsha as well as STBB, a conveyancer which provides professional services on a pro bono basis.
Oppenheimer Generations foundation
The TSC was funded with three successive grants from Oppenheimer Generations. This enabled the establishment of the advice office in Khayelitsha, Cape Town, and to date, the delivery of just over 1000 title deeds to households who had been trying unsuccessfully for years to resolve their tenure situations.
first rand foundation
The TSC was funded with three successive grants from Oppenheimer Generations. This enabled the establishment of the advice office in Khayelitsha, Cape Town, and to date, the delivery of just over 1000 title deeds to households who had been trying unsuccessfully for years to resolve their tenure situations.
FNB and STBB
FNB and STBB have been a committed supporters of the TSC programme, with FNB allowing the TSC to operate from its offices in Khayelitsha at no charge, and championing the work within its structures, and STBB providing conveyancing support to TSC clients.
MasterCard Foundation
In 2019, CAHF was awarded a grant from the MasterCard Foundation, to undertake an investigation into the application of blockchain technology to address various transaction and titling constraints in the low-value, entry-level property market in South Africa.
Cities Alliance
In 2019, CAHF was awarded a grant from the Cities Alliance, to document experiences with the Tenure Support Centre. The grant provided support for 100 clients, and enabled the production of a report to highlight lessons from the pilot.
TUHF21 and uMaStandi
In 2019, CAHF was awarded a grant from TUHF21 and uMaStandi, to support the operations of the TSC for a period of one year.
Cities Support Programme
The Cities Support Programme (CSP) of the SA National Treasury supported the work of the TSC, specifically in the drafting of a Toolkit for Beneficiary Administration and another for dealing with Land Legal Matters. While that grant has come to an end, the CSP continues to engage with CAHF around the TSC.
partnerships
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