Mexico built millions of homes and expanded access to mortgage finance. Yet many families remained unable to find affordable, well-connected housing, while some new developments experienced vacancy and abandonment. How did a policy designed to increase homeownership produce such contradictory outcomes?
In this episode, Richard Ough and Favour Ogbadu speak with housing policy scholar Dr Alejandra Reyes about Mexico’s housing paradox. They explore how housing reforms, financial institutions, mass construction and local governance shaped the country’s housing landscape. The conversation also examines the blurred boundary between formal and informal housing, the ways residents adapt when developments lack services and economic opportunities, and what policymakers elsewhere can learn from Mexico’s experience.
Special thanks to our guest, Dr Alejandra Reyes (Associate Professor, Urban Planning and Public Policy, University of California, Irvine), for her invaluable insights.
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