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Mission
The Housing Policy Section was established in 1999 as one of the organizational units of UN-HABITAT's Shelter Branch (the other being the Land Tenure and Property Administration Section). The primary mission of the Housing Policy Section is to assist States and other stakeholders to achieve the Habitat Agenda goal of adequate shelter for all, through improved policies and programmes, focusing on the commitment to the full and progressive realization of the right to adequate housing as elaborated in international instruments.
The Housing Policy Section has a strong normative function which draws on global research, partner consultations, housing sector studies, partnerships with various national and international stakeholders and technical advisory works. It contributes to the advocacy, policy and operational work of UN-HABITAT, supporting other units in a complementary manner by bringing knowledge and expertise in housing sector development and policy responses in various thematic areas.
Thematic Focus
Within its focus area the Housing Policy Section concentrates its normative, advocacy and advisory activities related to:
• Formulation and Implementation of Effective Housing Policies;
• Enabling Shelter Strategies;
• Slum Prevention Policies;
• Upgrading, Maintenance and Management of the Existing Housing Stock;
• Housing Delivery Systems and particularly Financing Affordable Housing Provision;
• Slum Upgrading and Informal Housing Supply Systems;
• Rental Housing;
• Cooperative Housing;
• Housing for Vulnerable Groups;
• Evictions and the Right to Adequate Housing; and
• Sustainable Housing, Sustainable Buildings and Clean Construction Technology.
In addition to its on-going programmes and work plan, the Housing Policy Section regularly provides advice to housing policy initiatives undertaken by governments, supports other programmes of UN-HABITAT and engages in substantive work in support to the Housing Ministries Conferences in Asia, Africa and Latin America.
Summary of Programmes and Initiatives
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Shelter Profiling |
A programme aiming at the development of a housing sector profile in developing countries that will enable governments and policy makers to understand how the housing sector works, its structure and institutions, the regulatory and institutional frameworks, as well as the bottlenecks and potentials for maximizing the supply of land, infrastructure, finance, building materials and labor. This will result in enhanced capacities to understand the functioning of housing markets and propel the design of participatory housing policies and the implementation of enabling housing strategies. The demonstration phase focuses on Malawi, Uganda, Tunisia and Senegal. |
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United Nations Housing Rights Programme |
This is a joint program of UN-HABITAT and the OHCHR. The program focuses on promoting a right-based approach to housing and to embed the notion of housing rights into housing policies and enabling shelter strategies. The programme produces a regular updating of the fact sheet on the right to adequate housing that depicts among other things the provisions of international instruments, covenants, treaties and legislations on this fundamental human right. It also develops indicators on housing rights, including security of tenure, that seek to provide governments, policy makers, practitioners and activists, with tools to assess baseline conditions and measure progress on the right to adequate housing. |
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Forced Evictions |
To support its work on unlawful forced evictions, UN-HABITAT in 2004 launched the Advisory Group on Forced Evictions (AGFE), that advises the Executive Director about the extent of forced evictions and about policy alternatives to forced evictions including resettlement and in-situ upgrading. AGFE undertakes fact-finding missions, consults with leading national and local policy makers, and works directly with urban poor organizations and effected populations. It reports back to the Housing Policy Section that ensures coordination, logistic and normative support. |
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Co-operative Housing |
A programme working in close cooperation with the International Cooperative Alliance – ICA Housing and the Swedish Cooperative Centre that results in guides to cooperative housing and annotated bibliographic references that will be continuously updated and uploaded to our website. The programme promotes and disseminates cooperative housing as part of a strategy to develop affordable housing options for poor households. Different guides and policy advice to governments are produced within the framework of this programme. |
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Housing for Urban Indigenous Peoples |
UN-HABITAT is working with the members of the Inter-Agency Support Group on Indigenous Issues to develop Policy Guides for national and local governments on themes relating specifically to the needs and rights of urban indigenous peoples. In line with its goal to develop a right-based approach to housing, UN-HABITAT seeks to raise awareness about the housing implications of rapid urbanization for indigenous peoples and migrants, and to promote strategies for the effective realization of their respective housing rights. |
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Shelter Initiative for Climate Change Mitigation |
The overall goal of the SICCM is to encourage the use of energy-efficient and low greenhouse gas emitting building materials and construction technologies and building and neighborhood design, using carbon credit and CDM projects, in order to mitigate climate change, within the framework of the UN-HABITAT Sustainable Urban Development–Network (SUD-Net). This is to be done through the development of policy support documents including clear recommendations to government bodies, ministries of housing, local authorities and the construction industry on developing policies and practices related to building materials and technologies, which encourage the use of energy-efficient and low greenhouse gas emitting building materials and technologies. This would include developing training packages to support various partners in the implementation of these policies. This programme is carried out in close cooperation with the Environment Section of UN-HABITAT, UNEP and partner universities and research centres. |
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Cities without Slums |
Under this thematic area the Housing Policy Section provides normative and technical support to the implementation of the Participatory Slum Upgrading Programme (PSUP) and the Cities Alliance Slum Upgrading Programme of Dar-es-Salam, Tanzania, working in close cooperation with the Regional and Technical Cooperation Division of UN-HABITAT. PSUP encompasses urban profiling and feasibility studies for slum upgrading in a total of 30 different countries and cities, aiming at capacity building, project design and preparation of citywide upgrading programmes. |
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Enabling Shelter Strategies |
This is a permanent programme that is undertaken in cooperation with scholars, research institutes and consulting firms that reviews experiences and generates knowledge on the implementation of enabling shelter strategies. It results in a number of publications, policy guides, policy advice and dissemination materials. |
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