A major new UN report says such efforts are more than isolated successes. With the right tools, he maintains, alleviating the global housing crisis, which affects billions, may be within our reach.
Published by UN-Habitat and launched on Tuesday at the 13th World Urban Forum (WU13), in Baku, Azerbaijan, the report also points to a broader role for the UN system in helping countries move beyond short-term solutions towards long-term housing solutions based on human rights, climate resilience and community participation.
Held every two years, the forum brings together policymakers, professionals and community leaders, offering a space to connect local expertise with global decision-making, from slum upgrading and affordable housing financing to climate adaptation and post-conflict reconstruction.
He World Cities Report 2026: The global housing crisis: paths to action paints a bleak picture.
Up to 3.4 billion people around the world lack access to adequate housing, while more than 1.1 billion live in informal settlements and slums. However, in its more than 300 pages, the report emphasizes not only the magnitude of the challenge but also examples of what works.
The UN as coordinator, advocate and partner
UN-Habitat says the role of the United Nations is not simply to sound the alarm, but to help governments, cities and communities build practical solutions.
The report describes housing as fundamental to sustainable development and calls for greater policy priority through the New Urban Agenda, an action-oriented framework adopted in 2016 that sets global standards for urban planning and helps advance the urban dimensions of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
Housing must be seen as more than a market good, says UN-Habitat Executive Director Anacláudia Rossbach, “adequate housing represents one of the most powerful entry points to accelerate sustainable and inclusive development.”
The role of the UN includes:
- help governments develop housing policies,
- promote housing as a human right,
- coordinate international cooperation,
- support climate resilient urban planning,
- support community-led improvement projects.
Instead of top-down solutions, the report emphasizes partnership with local communities, illustrating the approach through case studies from different regions.
Models of green cities and other exhibits based on climate solutions are on display in the COP29 ‘Green Room’ in Baku, Azerbaijan.
Thailand: community-driven modernization
One of the emblematic examples is Thailand’s Baan Mankong programme, widely regarded as a model for participatory housing development. Instead of relocating informal settlement residents, it provides funding for infrastructure and supports collective land deals, allowing communities to improve existing housing.
UN-Habitat presents this as evidence that informal settlements should not automatically be considered failures of urban development. At the same time, the report notes challenges: Reliance on community savings groups can lead to uneven progress, and poorer communities struggle to meet requirements.
Jordan: inclusive urban spaces
In Amman, interventions have included the rehabilitation of a large open space near the Al-Hussein refugee camp into a climate-resilient and age-friendly park.
Such projects aim to ease tensions between displaced people and host communities while improving living conditions for all, paying attention to the needs of women and girls. The report urges cities to treat displaced populations not as temporary outsiders, but as urban residents with the right to services, jobs and safe housing.
It also places the example within a broader global context: by the end of 2024, more than 123 million people had been forcibly displaced by conflict, violence and persecution, along with millions uprooted by disasters. In this context, the UN sees its role as bridging the gap between humanitarian response and long-term urban development.
Public green spaces have a positive effect on biodiversity, climate, well-being and air quality.
Brazil: modernization instead of eviction
Brazil’s favela programs illustrate a move away from evictions and slum clearance, policies that the report said often deepened poverty and social exclusion.
Instead, UN-Habitat promotes “in situ improvement” – improving roads, sanitation, drainage and housing conditions without displacing residents. The approach allows solutions to be tailored to each area, from housing improvements in São Paulo to drainage projects in Recife and the construction of a cable car in the Complexo do Alemão in Rio de Janeiro.
Climate resilient housing
The report places housing at the center of the climate crisis. Buildings account for about 37 percent of global greenhouse gas emissions, while climate-related hazards could destroy 167 million homes by 2040. In 2023 alone, natural disasters caused economic losses worth $280 billion, most of them uninsured.
UN-Habitat maintains that climate resilient housing must become a global priority. Examples highlighted in the report include community-led improvement projects in Cambodia and innovative governance initiatives in the Philippines, where residents collectively plan and build their homes.
In Tanzania, rapid electrification has more than doubled access (from 15 percent in 2020 to 40 percent in 2022), providing an alternative to polluting fuels like charcoal and paving the way for cleaner practices like e-cooking. To support the transition, the national electricity supplier has introduced financing schemes for household appliances, while project partners have developed recipe guides adapted to electric cooking.
The report also warns that climate adaptation should not come at the expense of low-income communities through forced relocation or “green gentrification.”
Maquanying urban village in China.
Housing as a human right
The UN frames housing not only as an economic issue, but also as a human rights issue. The report calls on governments to strengthen protections against forced evictions, recognize diverse forms of land tenure, and more closely involve communities in decision-making.
Even in developed countries, segregation remains entrenched. In Europe, many first- and second-generation immigrants remain concentrated in low-income neighborhoods, while in the United States, housing segregation increased in most cities between 1990 and 2014, a division that was once again exposed during the COVID-19 pandemic.
The report argues that housing policy must move beyond narrow homeownership models to include rental housing, cooperatives and community-led approaches. For UN-Habitat there is no single global solution; Progress depends on cooperation between governments, international organizations and residents themselves.
As Executive Director Anacláudia Rossbach writes in the foreword, “the actions we take now will determine whether housing becomes a foundation for stability and growth, or a source of acute vulnerability.”
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