Commemorating World Habitat Day, top UN officials on Monday called for urgent action to provide low-income families and vulnerable populations more secure affordable housing and easy access to water, sanitation, transport and other basic services. The need is all the more pressing given the COVID-19 pandemic and its impact, UN Secretary-General António Guterres outlined in a message.
Globally, more than a billion people live in overcrowded settlements with inadequate housing, and the number is expected to reach 1.6 billion by 2030. To meet that demand, more than 96,000 housing units will need to be completed every day – and they must be part of the green transition, said the Secretary-General, urging greater partnerships, pro-poor policies, and regulations needed to improve housing in cities.
Marked annually on the first Monday of October, World Habitat Day focuses attention on the state of the world’s towns and cities, and the right to adequate shelter. This year’s observance highlights the centrality of housing as a driver for sustainable urban development. According to the UN Human Settlements Programme (UN-Habitat), with urban areas accounting for 95 per cent of all confirmed COVID-19 cases, housing is now widely recognised as a frontline defence against the disease, with residents across the world being told to stay at home and wash their hands.
However, these simple measures are “impossible” for over a billion people, Maimunah Mohd Sharif, Executive Director of UN-Habitat, said in a separate message. Noting that towns and cities moved quickly to provide emergency housing solutions and shelter for the homeless, quarantine spaces, truck in water and postponed evictions, Ms. Sharif urged that these achievements must not be reversed, once the pandemic is over.
Source: The UN
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