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STORY: UN / UNHABITAT HOUSING SUSTAINABLE CITIES
TRT : 4 :08
SOURCE : UNIFEED
RESTRICTIONS : NONE
LANGAUGE : ENGLISH / NATS
DATELINE : 09 JULY 2026, NEW YORK CITY / FILE
FILE – NEW YORK CITY
1. Wide shot, exterior, United Nations Headquarters
09 JULY 2026, NEW YORK CITY
2. Wide shot, press briefing room
3. SOUNDBITE (English) Anaclaudia Rossbach, UN-Habitat Executive Director :
“The report makes it clear that adequate housing is the foundation of sustainable cities and communities. Housing is not only about shelter, it determines access to transport, employment, education, healthcare, public space and economic opportunities. It influences resilience to disasters, environmental quality, public health and social inclusion. Without adequate housing, it is hard to achieve most sustainable development goals. In particular, the well-being of more than one billion people living in informal settlements and slums. It is at stake.”
4. Wide shot, press briefing room
5. SOUNDBITE (English) Anaclaudia Rossbach, UN-Habitat Executive Director :
“This report reminds us that housing crisis is fundamentally a crisis of inequality. The people most affected are often those facing multiple forms of exclusion, including women, children, older persons, persons with disabilities, migrants, displaced populations, indigenous people, and residents of informal settlements. Addressing these inequalities requires more than building houses. The report calls for in-situ upgrading of slums and informal settlements in partnership with communities. Residents must be recognized as co-producers of solutions with investments that improve housing, security, infrastructure, public transport, public spaces and resilience without displacement.”
6. Wide shot, press briefing room
7. SOUNDBITE (English) Anaclaudia Rossbach, UN-Habitat Executive Director :
“The report also demonstrates that climate related disasters are becoming an increasingly central urban challenge. Encouragingly, countries are strengthening resilience planning more national urban policies meet international standards, and an increasing number of countries have aligned national and local disaster risk reduction strategies. 141 countries have national disaster risk reduction strategies, and 116 countries report aligned local strategies. However, planning must now translate into implementation through safer housing, resilient infrastructure, risk informed land use and stronger local preparedness.”
8. Wide shot, press briefing room
9. SOUNDBITE (English) Anaclaudia Rossbach, UN-Habitat Executive Director :
“The report concludes with a call for renewed commitment during the remaining years of the 2030 agenda. We need greater investment, especially in adequate housing, stronger political leadership, improved urban governance and a renewed commitment to ensuring that no one is left behind as cities continue to grow.”
10. Wide shot, press briefing room
11. SOUNDBITE (English) Erastus Ekitela Lokaale, Permanent Representative of the Republic of Kenya to the United Nations:
“For Kenya. These findings resonate deeply, guided by our Constitution and the bottom-up economic transformation agenda. We have placed affordable housing, integrated urban planning and resilient infrastructure at the centre of our national development priorities through the Affordable housing program, informal settlement upgrading initiatives, expanded urban infrastructure and investments in sustainable mobility. We are working to ensure that urbanization becomes a driver of economic opportunity, social inclusion and environmental sustainability.”
12. Wide shot, press briefing room
13. SOUNDBITE (English) Shirley Pryce, Jamaica Household Workers Union, GROOTS Jamaica, Huairou Commission and Member of the UN-Habitat Advisory Group on Gender Issues:
“Housing is much more than a roof over our heads or four walls. Housing is dignity. It's safety. Housing is health. Housing is opportunity. It is where children learn, where families recover, where a person finding security and where resilience begins.”
14. Wide shot, press briefing room
UN-Habitat Executive Director Anaclaudia Rossbach said, “adequate housing is the foundation of sustainable cities and communities. Housing is not only about shelter, it determines access to transport, employment, education, healthcare, public space and economic opportunities.”
The world is off track to achieve Sustainable Development Goal 11 (SDG 11) on sustainable cities and communities, ten years after its adoption, according to the SDG 11 Global Report 2026, launched today (9 Jul) by UN-Habitat during the High-level Political Forum on Sustainable Development (HLPF).
Prepared with the United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs (UN DESA), UNDRR, WHO, UNODC, UNESCO, UNEP and other partners, the report presents the United Nations system's joint assessment of progress towards achieving SDG 11.
The report identifies the global housing crisis as one of the greatest barriers to sustainable urban development. Today, more than three billion people lack access to adequate housing, including over 1.1 billion living in informal settlements and slums.
The UN-Habitat Executive Director said, “this report reminds us that housing crisis is fundamentally a crisis of inequality. The people most affected are often those facing multiple forms of exclusion, including women, children, older persons, persons with disabilities, migrants, displaced populations, indigenous people, and residents of informal settlements.”
She continued, “addressing these inequalities requires more than building houses. The report calls for in-situ upgrading of slums and informal settlements in partnership with communities. Residents must be recognized as co-producers of solutions with investments that improve housing, security, infrastructure, public transport, public spaces and resilience without displacement.”
Rossbach highlighted that the report “demonstrates that climate related disasters are becoming an increasingly central urban challenge. Encouragingly, countries are strengthening resilience planning more national urban policies meet international standards, and an increasing number of countries have aligned national and local disaster risk reduction strategies.”
She added, “141 countries have national disaster risk reduction strategies, and 116 countries report aligned local strategies. However, planning must now translate into implementation through safer housing, resilient infrastructure, risk informed land use and stronger local preparedness.”
The Executive Director said, “the report concludes with a call for renewed commitment during the remaining years of the 2030 agenda,” reiterating the need for “greater investment, especially in adequate housing, stronger political leadership, improved urban governance and a renewed commitment to ensuring that no one is left behind as cities continue to grow.”
Ambassador of Kenya Erastus Ekitela Lokaale also spoke to reporters. He said, “for Kenya, these findings resonate deeply, guided by our Constitution and the bottom-up economic transformation agenda.”
He continued, “we have placed affordable housing, integrated urban planning and resilient infrastructure at the centre of our national development priorities through the Affordable housing program, informal settlement upgrading initiatives, expanded urban infrastructure and investments in sustainable mobility. We are working to ensure that urbanization becomes a driver of economic opportunity, social inclusion and environmental sustainability.”
For her part, Shirley Pryce of Jamaica Household Workers Union and a member of the UN-Habitat Advisory Group on Gender Issues said, “housing is much more than a roof over our heads or four walls. Housing is dignity. It's safety. Housing is health. Housing is opportunity. It is where children learn, where families recover, where a person finding security and where resilience begins.”
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