[Virtual session] Sponsored by the Urban and Water Thematic Group
Always an issue, the topic of housing affordability is hotter than ever in a wide range of countries, including many Bank clients. The session will be the first in a series of two:
- Housing Affordability I: Principles, Measurement, Policy Responses. This first of two workshops will aim to frame the key issues and outline alternative approaches to defining, measuring, and improving affordability, including examples from several countries.
- Housing Affordability II: Frontline Experience. This second workshop will involve country experiences which address problems of affordability on-the-ground. The presenters, cases and date will be announced shortly.
Speakers: Catherine Lynch, Global Housing Team Lead at the World Bank Infrastructure Vice-Presidency and Steve Malpezzi, Faculty at the School for Advanced Real Estate Studies at the Hoyt Institute
Catherine Lynch leads the Global Housing Team in the Infrastructure Vice Presidency of the World Bank. She has over 25 years of experience designing and implementing complex housing, urban development, and real estate finance projects in Africa, Latin America, the Middle East, East Asia, Europe, and the United States. Since joining the World Bank in 2007, Catherine has led multidisciplinary teams on a range of investment operations and analytical engagements supporting client countries in addressing housing and urban challenges. Her expertise spans housing sector diagnostics and lending, policy reform, urban infrastructure and service delivery, municipal finance, and public-private partnerships. Prior to the World Bank, Catherine worked in the private sector, including at Telesis Corporation, where she directed neighborhood revitalization projects that leveraged blended financing for affordable housing. Earlier in her career, she was an analyst at J.P. Morgan, where she focused on tax-exempt municipal finance and real estate mergers and acquisitions. Catherine holds a master’s degree in Urban Planning from Harvard University and a dual bachelor’s degree from the Huntsman Program in International Studies and Business at the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania.
Stephen Malpezzi is Emeritus Professor in the James A. Graaskamp Center for Real Estate at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, where he served multiple terms as Department Chair and Academic Director of the Graaskamp Center for Real Estate. Malpezzi is currently a Faculty Member, and recently stepped down as Dean, of the School of Advanced Real Estate Studies at the Hoyt Institute. Malpezzi’s earlier research on urban development was undertaken at the World Bank, and at the Urban Institute. He holds a B.A. in Political Science from La Salle University, an M.A. in International Affairs from The George Washington University, and a Ph.D. in Economics, also from GWU. Professor Malpezzi has served as President of the American Real Estate and Urban Economics Association; in 2020 AREUEA honored him with the John Quigley Medal for “Advancing Real Estate and Urban Economics.” Malpezzi’s research includes work on economic development, the measurement and determinants of real estate prices, and the effects of regulation and other economic policies on real estate markets. He has advised numerous governments and private sector organizations on urban policies, in countries as diverse as Canada, China, Egypt, Ghana, India, Indonesia, Jamaica, Kenya, Korea, Malaysia, Mexico, Nigeria, South Africa, Sweden and the United Kingdom, as well as within the U.S. A list of his publications can be found at: https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=zkdR4lYAAAAJ&hl=en
Moderator: Catherine Farvacque-Vitkovic, co-Chair, Urban & Water Thematic Group
Register here to join virtually by Webex!
Virtual Participation Details
Join Webex!
Join by browser/meeting number:
Meeting number: 2300 295 8259
Password: Society1818
Join by phone: 1-650-479-3207 Call-in number (US/Canada)
Access code: 2300 295 8259
Global call-in numbers
