The objective of this study, requested by the Minister of Housing, Utilities and Urban Development, is to assist the government of Egypt in: formulating a coherent national affordable housing strategy which puts in place an effective institutional and regulatory framework that creates the necessary conditions for an efficiently functioning housing market, devises the incentive structure needed to promote increased private sector participation in affordable housing supply and the subsidy package to enable limited-income households to access affordable housing, and addresses distortions in factor markets; and designing the foundations and key elements of the national affordable housing program for Egypt, which aims to enable the delivery of 500,000 affordable housing units in the coming six years. This study critically analyzes the existing situation on housing supply in urban areas in Egypt. This includes examining existing formal and informal mechanisms for the supply/ delivery of urban housing in Egypt, institutions responsible for supply and regulation, the characteristics of the formal and informal housing stock (supply trends, prices, construction and factor market costs, etc), and the institutional and regulatory framework governing urban/ land use planning and development in Egypt.