UN: global housing crisis, 3.4 billion people affected

The topic of the housing emergency arrives at the UN. Gathered in Muscat, Oman, on the occasion of World Habitat Day, representatives of governments, civil society and academia called for immediate intervention in the face of the housing crisis affecting almost 3.4 billion people.

"Adequate housing is not a luxury. It is the foundation of a dignified life and sustainable cities," said the executive director of UN-Habitat, the United Nations Human Settlements Programme. Anacláudia Rossbach who added "housing must be considered a public priority, on a par with land and essential services", hoping for a strengthening of cooperation between public authorities, the private sector and civil society.

In his message to participants, United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said that adequate housing for all is "the foundation of dignity, security and opportunity for every individual". Instead, he stressed "over three billion people around the world are still deprived of this universal human right." “More than a billion people live in informal settlements and slums, and many more are homeless or have been displaced by conflict, disasters and climate change,” he added.

UN-Habitat Assembly President Nga Kor Ming, who is also Malaysia's Minister of Housing and Local Government, spoke of families living in shelters without basic sanitation or drinking water, and whose children suffer from preventable diseases. "A house without drinking water, without security or legal guarantees is not a home. It is a trap that locks people into poverty," he said.

According to the United Nations Human Rights Framework, housing is adequate when it meets seven criteria, including availability of amenities, habitability, cost, location and accessibility. For this reason, Guterres insisted on the need to "invest in decent housing and transform informal settlements to reduce poverty, fight inequality, strengthen climate resilience and promote peaceful and inclusive societies".