Expanding Access To Adequate Housing Goes Far Beyond Building New Units - UN-Habitat

(MENAFN- Trend News Agency) BAKU, Azerbaijan, May 19. Expanding access to adequate housing goes far beyond building new units, Executive Director of the United Nations Human Settlements Program (UN-Habitat), Anacláudia Rossbach, said during a dialogue on the topic "The Global Housing Crisis: What's the Plan?" at the 13th session of the World Urban Forum (WUF13), Trend reports.

"Of course, we need to build housing. We still need to expand the housing stock to reduce the existing deficit, especially in fast-growing cities in the Global South, where housing is still insufficient. But we already have buildings and opportunities to reuse the urban environment and expand housing supply for low-income groups.

All around us, we see empty buildings and spaces that are underutilized, and we must pay attention to this," she said.

Rossbach noted that there are numerous examples at the project, city, and even national level where investment in informal settlements has been considered a strategic economic development policy.

"This is how many people have been able to access cities, and informal settlements have become a gateway to urban life and an opportunity to access the opportunities that cities offer," she said.

Rossbach also noted that at this level, there is a whole range of businesses-small and medium-sized enterprises-whose potential can be harnessed.

"Around the world, there are numerous examples of unauthorized housing, community-driven housing, and phased housing construction. Recently, more and more countries are investing in phased housing as an alternative.

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