You’ve just launched UN-Habitat’s new Refresh strategy. What’s the essence of it and why is this the right focus now?
ANANCLAUDIA ROSSBACH: UN-Habitat was created 50 years ago to deal with the shelter crisis. Today, we’re living in a housing crisis. Either we never solved the original crisis, or—and I believe this—it’s different this time because the structural problems we used to see only in the Global South are now reaching the global North as well.
The affordability gaps, homelessness—it’s gone global. Now many countries are putting housing back on the agenda because they’re realising the dimensions of what we’re facing.
We still have one billion people living in slums and informal settlements in the Global South. About 300 million people are in homelessness situations globally. The IMF even recognises there’s a historic affordability gap. You have young people who simply cannot buy or rent houses anymore.
Add demographic changes, migration flows, ageing populations. We’re losing houses to climate events—the fires in LA, Valparaíso constantly burning, flooding everywhere. Humanitarian crises from conflicts requiring constant rebuilding.
The idea agreed with member states was to focus UN-Habitat’s work for 2026-29 on access to housing, land, basic services, including transformation of informal settlements. We need extra attention and urgency because while we speak, people aren’t accessing water. We cannot afford another pandemic.
But this isn’t just about building more houses, is it?
AR: Exactly. We’re not in the same situation as 50 years ago. We have to pay attention to where we build and how we build. We need to maximise the existing built environment and recognise the social and ecological function of land.
Housing has been a key driver of urban sprawl—often unnecessary sprawl—affecting food security and natural environments. Look at Cape Town’s droughts, São Paulo, Bogotá. So many cities are suffering from unplanned—or sometimes even planned but unnecessary— urban sprawl that’s affecting nature.
If we plan better, we’ll attract finance and resources—public, private, domestic, international. Investors will put their money in cities that are better-planned, efficient, competitive. The same with international donors. If there’s a long-term vision where a project makes sense and will have higher impact, there’s a higher likelihood of investment.
How does this multilevel approach actually work in practice?
AR: Housing policies designed and implemented at only one level don’t work. We need multilevel collaboration and community perspectives. We need real engagement of local and regional governments to identify land, integrate housing into cities, connect to services and economic opportunities, and liaise with stakeholders.
The national level is the enabler, but we need a large infrastructure of data, knowledge, and practices to mobilise resources so the whole ecosystem can work.
Most importantly, we have to be an enabler of a broader ecosystem. Make sure policies are in place, urban policies connect with financial frameworks, subsidies, investments, incentives—all aligned with urban plans attuned to the New Urban Agenda. A city that works for all: people, nature, and the economy.
Cities are critical for everything we need to achieve. By 2050, 70% of the population will live in cities. Cities produce 70% of emissions, consume most energy. There’s no industrialisation or economic growth without clusters of economic activities and educated labour forces in urban settings. Cities are gateways to global economies.
Africa faces perhaps the most extreme version of these challenges—massive slum populations plus urban sprawl. Which African governments are really stepping up to work with you?
AR: At the first Africa Urban Forum in September 2024, I got real traction. There was genuine realisation of how critical housing is, how important it is to address informal settlements. This was later recognised in the African Union declaration.
Our strategic plan got 105 countries voting in support—with consensus on every single word. At our UN-Habitat Assembly, we had 50 ministers attending, 30 from Africa. Not just making political statements—they came with concrete actions and policies they’re implementing.
Housing is coming to the centre of countries’ political agendas. Kenya, our host country, put housing as a central priority and designed schemes to leverage domestic resources. At the Financing for Development Conference, I heard from local governments about efforts to get higher autonomy to leverage and manage resources.
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We still have one billion people living in slums and informal settlements in the Global South. About 300 million people are in homelessness situations globally. The IMF even recognises there’s a historic affordability gap. You have young people who simply cannot buy or rent houses anymore.
What I saw were governments coming with concrete ideas, strong will to build capacities, review policies, and work collectively. Not asking “where is my five trillion dollars?”—which is what the World Bank says we need for urban infrastructure—but practical approaches.
What realistic progress do you hope to see by 2029?
AR: We’re not going to solve the housing crisis by 2029, but I hope we’ll have a significant set of African countries that design national policies and programmes, leverage resources domestically and internationally, and have cities with improved urban plans. Cities with instruments to review how they use territory, maximising land potential to leverage resources while overcoming segregation and including informal settlements.
We’re working on regional strategies for different contexts and developing KPIs. But honestly, we don’t have much data from the urban sector—it’s pretty under-researched. We’ll need to collectively get this information because it’s simply not there.
The challenge is that while we speak, people aren’t accessing basic services. The urgency is real. We cannot afford to wait for another crisis to force our hand.
