The United Nations Human Settlements Programme (UN-Habitat) has called for coordinated, multisectoral action by all levels of government, private sector, civil society, development partners and local communities to address the global housing crisis.
This was contained in the UN Habitat’s World Cities Report 2026.
The report said only integrated, sustained and inclusive approaches can drive progress toward universal access to adequate, affordable and resilient housing.
It warned that global housing inadequacy has reached unprecedented level, with billions lacking adequate shelter and nearly half of all households struggling with unaffordable housing costs.
According to the report, the world is facing an unprecedented housing crisis driven by rising costs, limited supply, widespread displacement, inadequate upgrading of existing homes and informal settlements.
These pressures, it said, have made access to affordable and adequate housing one of the most persistent and complex global challenges of the 21st century.
“Although the crisis is universal, it appears differently across regions and income levels. Five interconnected issues define the crisis: affordability, displacement, informality, sustainability and liveability. Together they create a multidimensional problem with persistent gaps in policy and implementation.
“Despite its importance, housing has often been overlooked as a strategic priority in international development agendas. Yet adequate housing is essential for broader social and economic progress, supporting health, education, well-being, mobility and social inclusion. It is both a social good and a critical economic asset,” the report read.
It called for a more balanced approach to safeguard social function of housing while harnessing its economic contributions to sustainable development.
It asked governments to position adequate housing as a strategic pillar of sustainable development, saying: ”Governments should integrate housing into national development frameworks, recognising its central role in improving health and education outcomes, expanding economic inclusion, strengthening climate resilience and fostering social cohesion.”
The report noted that adequate housing also underpinned progress across multiple Sustainable Development Goals.
The report suggested that investing in adequate housing would, therefore, generate wide-ranging and mutually reinforcing benefits, advancing social wellbeing, economic opportunity and urban resilience.
It called on governments and other stakeholders to adopt holistic and multidimensional housing approaches.
The report stated that, instead of addressing only one aspect of the housing crisis in isolation, such as meeting a numerical target for new housing units, policy frameworks should encompass all elements of housing adequacy.
“These include secure tenure, affordability, access to services, habitability, accessibility, location, cultural adequacy and environmental sustainability,” it read.
“Considering these dimensions lead to more inclusive, resilient and enduring housing outcomes.
Countries were urged to simultaneously pursue balanced demand- and supply-side measures to address persistent affordability gaps.
This, it said, should include strengthening land governance, expanding rental and non-market housing options, streamlining regulatory processes and deploying targeted financing instruments that effectively support low-income and vulnerable households.
Collectively, the report said that these interventions would create more equitable and sustainable housing markets.
Key findings, according to the report, showed the scale of global housing inadequacy is unprecedented, adding that up to 3.4 billion people worldwide lack access to adequate housing, reflecting deep and long-standing structural challenges in cities and human settlements.
This figure, it said, encompassed more than 1.1 billion people living in informal settlements – the highest level on record – as well as unprecedented numbers of internally displaced persons and refugees, many of them living precariously in urban areas.
“At the same time, housing affordability pressures continue to intensify, with 44 per cent of households globally spending more than 30 percent of their income on rent – a burden that rises sharply to 55 percent in Sub-Saharan Africa,
where affordability constraints are most acute,” it said.
The global housing crisis, the report said, was shaped by five interlinked and mutually reinforcing challenges.
The five interlinked challenges include affordability constraints, rising
displacement, pervasive informality, increasing climate-related risks, and declining neighbourhood liveability, pointing out that all these collectively define the contemporary housing landscape.
These challenges, according to the report, intersected across regions and income groups, producing diverse and context-specific expressions of housing deprivation.
Together, it said they highlighted the need for integrated, multisectoral approaches that address structural inequalities while strengthening the resilience and inclusiveness of urban housing systems.
Structural drivers, the report said, continued to deepen housing deficits, adding that rapid urbanisation, rising land values, widening inequality, the increasing treatment of housing as an investment asset, and intensifying climate impacts were outpacing the capacity of national and local governments to deliver adequate and affordable housing.
“By 2050, urban areas are projected to absorb an additional two billion residents, further straining already constrained housing systems and exacerbating existing shortages.
Climate change poses a significant and escalating threat to housing systems.
“Climate-related hazards are projected to destroy167 million homes by 2040, and in 2023 alone, natural catastrophes generated US$280 billion in global economic losses, most of which were uninsured.
“The risks to cities, settlements and key infrastructure will intensify without accelerated adaptation, especially in fast-growing, vulnerable urban areas.
Calling for the need to strengthen the social function of housing while harnessing its economic value, the report pointed out that its role in supporting well-being, equity and the common good – has increasingly been overshadowed by its treatment as a financial asset.
“This imbalance risks reducing housing to a speculative investment while also creating market conditions that may deter responsible private sector participation,” the report read
