Rapidly growing cities are finding it increasingly difficult to provide their residents with core services such as housing, water, energy and transportation - a challenge that is exacerbated as the population of poor people living in urban areas grows in the world.

More than 880 million people live in slums and for millions of under-served urban dwellers, the lack of access to core services undermines economic productivity, challenges them to fend for themselves in inefficient and costly ways and risks polluting the environment.

Global housing deficit is definitely a major issue. It's a well-recognized problem that there is a lack of affordable, adequate, secure housing in well-located urban areas. However, over the next 10 years, this gap is estimated to increase by about one-third, disproportionately affecting women, children and ethnic minorities.