A review of critical success factors for public–private partnerships in affordable housing

Despite the global trend toward increasing public–private partnership (PPP) implementation in the provision of economic and social infrastructure, published work on the systematic examination of crucial success factors in the housing sector remains limited. Failed PPP projects in affordable housing endeavors in several countries and the relatively limited studies on related critical success factors (CSFs) indicate the need for further research in this emerging area. This study aims to review the published literature through September 2019 on the CSFs for PPPs delivering affordable housing. A summative content analysis approach is deployed to analyze the qualitative content of published literature on CSFs for PPPs in affordable housing. Results reveal limited, but increasing, research efforts to explore the CSFs for PPPs in affordable housing. The most-identified CSFs in the literature are: political support and stability, a favorable and efficient legal framework, appropriate risk allocation and sharing, and trust and openness. This study provides governments, private developers, and researchers with a list of the most-identified CSFs for use when developing a model for engaging in PPPs in affordable housing projects. It is recommended that further studies focus on CSFs in affordable housing (an emerging and little-researched area). The checklist from this study can be used for further empirical analysis to allow comparisons with the results identified in this study.