"The Global Housing Crisis is Fundamentally a Crisis of Inequality"- Presser | United Nations

Press Conference by Anacláudia Rossbach, Under-Secretary-General and Executive Director, UN-Habitat; Ambassador Erastus Ekitela Lokaale, Permanent Representative of the Republic of Kenya to the United Nations; and Shirley Pryce, Jamaica Household Workers Union, GROOTS Jamaica, Huairou Commission and Member of the UN-Habitat Advisory Group on Gender Issues. They briefed on Renewing Commitments on Sustainable Cities and Communities and the launch of the SDG 11 Global Synthesis Report 2026. UN-Habitat Executive Director Anaclaudia Rossbach said, “adequate housing is the foundation of sustainable cities and communities. Housing is not only about shelter, it determines access to transport, employment, education, healthcare, public space and economic opportunities.” The world is off track to achieve Sustainable Development Goal 11 (SDG 11) on sustainable cities and communities, ten years after its adoption, according to the SDG 11 Global Report 2026, launched by UN-Habitat during the High-level Political Forum on Sustainable Development (HLPF). Prepared with the United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs (UN DESA), UNDRR, WHO, UNODC, UNESCO, UNEP and other partners, the report presents the United Nations system's joint assessment of progress towards achieving SDG 11. The report identifies the global housing crisis as one of the greatest barriers to sustainable urban development. Today, more than three billion people lack access to adequate housing, including over 1.1 billion living in informal settlements and slums. The UN-Habitat Executive Director said, “this report reminds us that housing crisis is fundamentally a crisis of inequality. The people most affected are often those facing multiple forms of exclusion, including women, children, older persons, persons with disabilities, migrants, displaced populations, indigenous people, and residents of informal settlements.” She continued, “addressing these inequalities requires more than building houses. The report calls for in-situ upgrading of slums and informal settlements in partnership with communities. Residents must be recognized as co-producers of solutions with investments that improve housing, security, infrastructure, public transport, public spaces and resilience without displacement.” Rossbach highlighted that the report “demonstrates that climate related disasters are becoming an increasingly central urban challenge. Encouragingly, countries are strengthening resilience planning more national urban policies meet international standards, and an increasing number of countries have aligned national and local disaster risk reduction strategies.” She added, “141 countries have national disaster risk reduction strategies, and 116 countries report aligned local strategies. However, planning must now translate into implementation through safer housing, resilient infrastructure, risk informed land use and stronger local preparedness.” The Executive Director said, “the report concludes with a call for renewed commitment during the remaining years of the 2030 agenda,” reiterating the need for “greater investment, especially in adequate housing, stronger political leadership, improved urban governance and a renewed commitment to ensuring that no one is left behind as cities continue to grow.” Ambassador of Kenya Erastus Ekitela Lokaale also spoke to reporters. He said, “for Kenya, these findings resonate deeply, guided by our Constitution and the bottom-up economic transformation agenda.” He continued, “we have placed affordable housing, integrated urban planning and resilient infrastructure at the centre of our national development priorities through the Affordable housing program, informal settlement upgrading initiatives, expanded urban infrastructure and investments in sustainable mobility. We are working to ensure that urbanization becomes a driver of economic opportunity, social inclusion and environmental sustainability.” For her part, Shirley Pryce of Jamaica Household Workers Union and a member of the UN-Habitat Advisory Group on Gender Issues said, “housing is much more than a roof over our heads or four walls. Housing is dignity. It's safety. Housing is health. Housing is opportunity. It is where children learn, where families recover, where a person finding security and where resilience begins.”