DistantNews
Support us
🇨🇺 Cuba /Economy & Trade

Global Problems Worsen Access to Stable, Dignified Housing

From Granma · () Spanish

Translated from Spanish, summarized and contextualized by DistantNews.

At a glance

News Official statement Context piece
  • Global issues like rising housing costs, urban deficiencies, disasters, and conflicts worsen housing shortages worldwide.
  • The UN reports 3.4 billion people lack adequate housing, with 167 million homes potentially affected by climate change by 2040.
  • The construction sector's environmental impact is significant, contributing to resource depletion and climate change, while the demand for materials like sand escalates.

A global housing crisis is deepening, driven by a confluence of factors including escalating property prices, inadequate urban development, natural disasters, and armed conflicts, according to United Nations data. Approximately 3.4 billion people worldwide currently lack access to suitable housing, while 1.1 billion live in informal settlements or slums.

What we build, how we build, and where we build has consequences for natural resources, climate resilience, and the ability of communities to withstand impacts and disasters.

— Anacláudia RossbachThe director of the UN Human Settlements Programme (UN-Habitat) commenting on the broader implications of construction and housing.

Forced displacement is another critical issue, with 123 million people displaced globally in 2022 due to conflict and environmental threats. Projections indicate that climate change alone could render 167 million homes uninhabitable or destroy them by 2040. The war in Gaza serves as a stark example, where an estimated 85% of buildings in the Palestinian territory are damaged or destroyed, leaving behind millions of tons of debris and unexploded ordnance.

Amidst this widespread housing insecurity, the construction industry, a major contributor to global pollution, continues to thrive. The sector accounts for nearly half of global material extraction, 37% of greenhouse gas emissions, and 28% of energy consumption. The demand for construction materials, particularly sand, is soaring, with global annual consumption reaching 50 billion tons and projected to increase by 45% by 2060.

global housing crisis

— Anacláudia RossbachThe director of UN-Habitat describing the current state of global housing.

Anacláudia Rossbach, director of UN-Habitat, described the situation as a "global housing crisis." While historically more severe in the Global South, she noted that the crisis is now increasingly felt in the Global North as well. Rising housing costs have outpaced the economic capacity of countless families over the past decade, exacerbating the problem. The construction industry's environmental footprint, coupled with the escalating demand for resources, poses significant challenges to natural resources, climate resilience, and communities' ability to withstand disasters.

more serious and structural

— Anacláudia RossbachThe director of UN-Habitat referring to the historical severity of the housing crisis in the Global South.
DistantNews Editorial

Originally published by Granma in Spanish. Translated, summarized, and contextualized by our editorial team with added local perspective. Read our editorial standards.

More Stories

From Our Blog