Housing (Civ6)

Back to City

Housing Housing is a new concept in Civilization VI, which adds a slowing factor and eventually a limit on Population growth in each city. It is meant to emulate habitation and sanitation factors in cities, and the limits overcrowding imposes on growth. Housing Housing acts alongside the traditional Food growth factor in the following way:

Housing Housing minus Population	Growth rate from Food
2 or more	100%
1	50%
0 to -4	25%
-5 or less	0%

Note that Housing does not replace Food! If you have not enough food production, no amount of spare Housing will help your city grow.

Mechanics

Housing acts by putting an additional constraint on Population growth beyond food supply (as per the table above). In practice, this means that a city will need Housing to grow larger, even though it has more than enough Food!

Initially the amount of Housing available is strongly dependent on fresh water access (quite correct historically). That's why Water supply plays such a prominent role in the Settler lens - look for the dark green tiles to settle in the best possible locations.

When the city develops, however, its Housing becomes mostly dependent on the existence of tile improvements, buildings and districts (that is, facilities inside the city which have no relation to nearby terrain). Still later, Civics and Governments will also add Housing.

Note that Housing is a fluid trait, especially when provided by non-hard sources, such as Civic Policy Cards. However, losing Housing (that is, the sudden drop in the Housing limit, for example because you stopped using a certain Policy) will not cause loss of Population! It will instead merely slow down (or stop altogether) Population growth. In that manner Housing is very different from Food - when you are losing food in the city you will also eventually start losing Population.

For details on how to get more housing, see the section below.

Sources

The most basic Housing Housing conditions are related to a water source, and this depends on where your city (that is, the City Center) is placed. Fresh water (River, Lake, Oasis) provides 5 Housing Housing. Coast provides 3 Housing Housing if you don't have fresh water. Every other placement gives only 2 Housing Housing, meaning that your Population growth will be slowed since the very beginning.

Buildings and Districts

Many buildings grant Housing Housing. After researching Pottery, every city is able to build a Granary, which adds 2 Housing Housing, and later they can build Sewers, which also adds 2 Housing Housing. Buildings in other districts sometimes add Housing Housing, such as the Barracks in the Encampment district, the University in the Campus, and the Lighthouse in the Harbor. With religious beliefs such as Religious Community and Pagoda, certain buildings that can be built in the Holy Site add Housing Housing. The Palace building in your Capital Capital city also adds 1 Housing Housing.

Aqueducts are the earliest engineering means of increasing Housing Housing by providing additional access to water. They will add 2 Housing Housing for cities that already have fresh water, otherwise they will set the water Housing Housing value to 6.

The Neighborhood district is exclusively dedicated to providing Housing Housing through additional habitation space. .

Finally, in Gathering Storm the Dam also provides Housing Housing by improving the sanitation from nearby rivers.

Improvements

Each Farm, Pasture, Plantation, or Camp supports a small amount of Population — 1 Housing Housing for every 2 such improvements. Supporting rural Population in this fashion will allow for slightly larger Populations prior to the Industrial Era, when the Neighborhood district becomes available.

In Gathering Storm the futuristic Seastead offers a major late-game means of additional Housing Housing by constructing floating homes in any water tile.

Policies

The final major source of Housing Housing is Policy Cards. The following Policy Cards, when activated, will increase Housing Housing by:

Policy Card	Function	First available
Insulae	1 Housing Housing in cities with 2 or more districts	Classical Era
Medina Quarter	2 Housing Housing in cities with 3 or more districts	Medieval Era
New Deal	4 Housing Housing, 2 Amenities Amenities, -8 Gold in cities with 3 or more districts	Modern Era

Others

There are also other sources of Housing Housing, which are generally non-permanent. They are related to specific forms of Government, or to its agents - the Governors. Since these may be changed or relocated at any time, you should aim to utilize them strategically in periods of the game for general growth, or in specific cities to allow a temporary growth spur.