Anaclaudia Rossbach: One in three people on planet faces housing affordability issues

UN-Habitat's new strategic plan for 2026-2029 will be built around the global housing crisis, Anaclaudia Rossbach, executive director of the United Nations Human Settlements Programme (UN-Habitat), said at the panel discussion "The Global Housing Crisis - What's the Plan?" as part of the 13th session of the World Urban Forum (WUF13) in Baku, Report informs.

"We all understand how crucial the housing issue is for addressing all the challenges related to the Sustainable Development Goals: health, education, employment, and access to water. We all understand that housing is critical for cities: cities that provide well-located, affordable housing with the necessary infrastructure are more productive, competitive, and inclusive, and also have a broader revenue base. However, today, 10 years after the adoption of the New Urban Agenda, which put housing at the center, and 50 years after the creation of UN-Habitat, which initially focused on housing issues, we still face the problem of housing affordability. This is not a gap. We are talking about one in three people on the planet. That is why this is a global crisis," said Rossbach.

According to her, existing housing systems are not working for everyone, and the new systems that are emerging need to be strengthened and stabilized.

"Affordability is the main common denominator. What was once a structural problem in the Global South now affects cities and residents in the Global North. We see that today, almost half of households spend more than a third of their income on housing. And this figure varies across different regions of the world. Spending 30% of income in a city in South America or Africa is practically beyond the pale," she added.