Habitat for Humanity's International Work

A core issue for global poverty: The state of the world’s housing

The world is experiencing a global housing crisis. About 1.6 billion people live in substandard housing and 100 million are homeless, according to the United Nations. (1) These people are increasingly urban residents, and every week more than a million people are born in, or move to, cities in the developing world. (2) Today, a billion people - 32 percent of the global urban population - live in urban slums. If no serious action is taken, the United Nations reports that the number of slum dwellers worldwide will increase over the next 30 years to nearly 2 billion. (3)

Housing must become a priority

If action to decrease poverty is to be successful, increasing the housing supply around the globe is essential. Adequate housing is vitally important to the health of the world’s economies, communities, and populations, yet the percentage of people without access to decent, stable housing is rising. The United Nations projects that by the year 2030 an additional three billion people, about 40 percent of the world’s population, will need access to housing. (4) If we are to prevent such a dramatic escalation of the housing crisis, and if we are to succeed in the fight against poverty, we must support the expansion of housing both as policy and as practice.

Habitat for Humanity International

Since 1976 Habitat has built, rehabilitated and repaired nearly 300,000 houses around the world, providing more than 1.5 million people in more than 3,000 communities with safe, decent, affordable shelter.

Visit the Habitat for Humanity International website at www.habitat.org.

(1) Miloon Kothari , UN Press Briefing by Special Rapporteur on the Right to Adequate Housing, November, 2005. http://www.un.org/News/briefings/docs/2005/kotharibrf050511.doc.htm
(2) D. Kissick, et al, Housing for All: Essential for Economic, Social, and Civic Development, a 28 page manuscript prepared for the World Urban Forum III by PADCO/AECOM
(3) UN-Habitat, Global Report on Human Settlements 2003: The Challenge of Slums, www.unhabitat.org
(4) UN-Habitat, Financing Urban Shelter: Global Report on Human Settlements 2005, www.unhabitat.org