22 April 2016
Experts Stress Need to Put Housing at Center of Urban Agenda
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Housing must be at the center of the New Urban Agenda, according to a policy paper from the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), Habitat for Humanity, and other housing experts.

The authors stress that housing will be critical for providing stability for urban families and communities.

The New Urban Agenda is the expected outcome from the upcoming UN Conference on Housing and Sustainable Urban Development (Habitat III), convening in Quito, Ecuador, in October 2016.

hiii17 April 2016: Housing must be at the center of the New Urban Agenda, according to a policy paper from the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), Habitat for Humanity, and other housing experts. The authors stress that housing will be critical for providing stability for urban families and communities. The New Urban Agenda is the expected outcome from the upcoming UN Conference on Housing and Sustainable Urban Development (Habitat III), convening in Quito, Ecuador, in October 2016.

The Habitat III Housing Policy Paper encourages governments to make programmatic and financial commitments to ensure more affordable, adequate and safe housing. It details a strategic approach and recommendations, calling on countries to prioritize housing in order to improve the lives of those living in informal urban settlements and inadequate housing, the number of which is expected to reach two billion by 2030.

The paper recommends focusing on five areas, which will require coordination between government, civil society organizations, the private sector and donors: a housing framework integrated into urban plans and city investment strategies; inclusive housing that includes participatory processes, fair housing policies, gender-equal land rights and housing for special needs groups; policies and measures to improve home ownership affordability; measures to assure adequate housing; and neighborhood upgrading programmes and protection of incremental housing.

An estimated US$929 billion is required to address inadequate urban housing, according to the paper, which emphasizes: embedding housing-related SDGs into national goals and enforcing monitoring and evaluation systems; participatory systems that engage the community to crowd source information; alignment of SDG goals to local government priorities; and new indicators to ensure non-discriminatory, fair housing compliance.

The paper notes that expanded housing opportunities will support the achievement of Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 11 on cities and human settlements, and Target 11.1 (ensuring access to adequate, safe and affordable housing), as well as the SDGs related to poverty alleviation (SDG 1), health (SDG 3), economic growth (SDG 8), social cohesion (SDG 16), gender equality (SDG 5) and environmental sustainability (SDGs 12, 13, 14 and 15).

Other initiatives ahead of Habitat III include a roundtable discussion on connecting the monitoring of urban SDGs to the UN-Habitat City Prosperity Initiative (CPI), which took place in Toronto, Canada, on 13 April 2016. The CPI enables city authorities to identify opportunities and potential interventions for their cities to become more prosperous. The event aimed to inform local leaders on the CPI’s potential to become the monitoring and reporting framework for the urban SDGs. The meeting agreed: to establish a network of leaders to advance this agenda and provide feedback from the perspective of the Greater Toronto Area at Habitat III; to organize an international conference in February 2017; and that connecting urban SDGs and the CPI can contribute to a better sustainable development measurement.

Regional and thematic meetings have been convening to develop the New Urban Agenda, the latest of which met from 18-20 April 2016, in Mexico, to discuss issues of importance to Latin America and the Caribbean. A series of informal consultations will take place in the coming months to further develop the outcome document, including Open-Ended Informal Consultative Meetings from 25-29 April, and Local Authorities and Civil Society Informal Hearings in May, in New York, US. The final meeting of the Preparatory Committee (PrepCom 3) will meet from 25-27 July 2016, in Surabaya, Indonesia. [Publication: Habitat III Policy Paper 10 – Housing Policies] [IDB Press Release] [UN Habitat Press Release on CPI Initiative] [Habitat III Website]


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