BAKU, Azerbaijan, March 14. The world is facing a large-scale housing crisis, with cities at the center of these challenges, said Anacláudia Rossbach, Executive Director of the United Nations Human Settlements Programme (UN-Habitat), during a briefing dedicated to the 13th session of the World Urban Forum (WUF13), TurkicWorld reports.
"Today, about 300 million people worldwide are homeless, while more than 1 billion live in informal settlements or slums without access to clean water, basic infrastructure, healthcare, and education. Many of them live in high-risk areas and are among the first to face the consequences of climate change," she said.
According to Rossbach, nearly half of the world’s population, around 3 billion people, live in inadequate housing conditions.
She noted that in the coming decades, an additional 2 billion people are expected to move to cities, which will increase global urbanization levels to about 70%. This trend will place additional pressure on infrastructure, particularly in countries across Africa and Southeast Asia.
Rossbach emphasized that ensuring safe and affordable housing is a key condition for achieving the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) by 2030.
"The main task today is to ensure safe and decent housing for the growing urban population," Rossbach added.
