Housing and Access to Essential Services Indicators: a Proposed Survey Module for Multidimensional Poverty Measurement

This paper develops a concise survey module that strengthens the capacity of multidimensional poverty indices (MPIs) to capture housing-related deprivations, particularly in moderate poverty contexts in countries with higher levels of human development, an area still underexplored in the literature. Housing conditions, affordability, and access to services intersect with broader socioeconomic outcomes such as health, education, and employment. While these dimensions are reflected in international frameworks and existing national measures, this paper identifies important gaps in their measurement. Drawing on the definition of adequate housing set out by the United Nations Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (1991), and curating questions frequently used in comparable national and international surveys, the paper proposes a refined set of indicators organized around six subdimensions: security of tenure, availability of services, materials, facilities, and infrastructure, affordability, habitability, and location, comprising twelve indicators in total. The proposed module is designed to enhance cross-country comparability while remaining sensitive to contextual realities, by integrating conceptual clarity with practical feasibility. The proposed framework contributes to the design of moderate MPIs that complement income-based assessments and inform policy interventions. The analysis ultimately supports more accurate and harmonized monitoring of housing-related deprivations, strengthening the evidence base for multidimensional poverty reduction efforts.