Over the past decade, many countries have made visible progress: around 160 countries have already adopted or are developing national urban policies, while more than two-thirds of countries have introduced housing affordability programs.
However, according to the United Nations Human Settlements Program (UN-Habitat), these efforts remain insufficient. More than 1.1 billion people live in slums or informal settlements worldwide, and more than 120 million people over the past decade were born in or moved to slums and informal settlements.
Recovery from war and destruction.
Solutions such as expanding social housing programs, improvements to informal settlements and protecting vulnerable populations were discussed during the opening sessions of the week-long event.
Special attention was paid to countries recovering from war and destruction. Bashar Al Sebaai, mayor of Homs, Syria, which suffered extensive damage during years of conflict, says the city urgently needs not only ideas and knowledge, but also funding to restore basic services and infrastructure.
“400,000 people returned to the city after the war,” he said. UN News. “They returned to severely damaged neighborhoods. Solid waste, infrastructure, electricity… it is very difficult to find a solution to all these problems.”
Climate change and cities
The millions of people living in unsafe housing are among the first to suffer from floods, heat waves and other extreme events that are worsening as a result of the man-made climate crisis.
The construction sector remains one of the world’s largest sources of greenhouse gas emissions, and low-carbon construction, resilient urban planning and climate-sensitive upgrading of informal settlements are on the agenda.
The first day of the forum was marked by prolonged heavy rain in Baku, forcing city authorities to take urgent measures to drain flooded roads. Local residents noted that a few years ago such weather phenomena were rare in Azerbaijan, especially at this time of year.
Homelessness is a crisis for rich and poor nations
“When in the United States we have a homeless population of hundreds of thousands of people on the streets and we are considered rich… In New York, it feels like a crisis right now,” said Lance Jay Brown, founder of the Consortium for Sustainable Urbanization. UN News.
Mr. Brown noted that in his lifetime, the world’s population has nearly quadrupled, while it has become increasingly difficult to secure affordable housing for low-income communities.
The US-based architect expressed hope that the discussions and decisions emerging from Baku will help generate practical solutions to the global housing crisis.