Put housing at the heart of crisis response and invest in cities as places of safety, opportunity, and resilience for all.

 

Every crisis has a human face — families displaced, children learning in refugee camps, and communities living without basic services. In 2024 alone, a record 123 million people were forced from their homes, most of them seeking safety in already strained cities. At the same time, nearly 3 billion people lack adequate housing, with over 1.1 billion living in informal settlements and slums. But crisis does not have to mean despair. Around the world, UN-Habitat has seen how prioritizing housing, land, and basic services restores stability, dignity, and hope. From Iraq to Somalia to Lebanon, communities are rebuilding and finding resilience in the face of adversity. On this World Habitat Day, UN-Habitat calls on governments, partners, and communities everywhere to put housing at the heart of crisis response and invest in cities as places of safety, opportunity, and resilience for all.

UN-Habitat Executive Director Anacláudia Rossbach.