Improving housing affordability is currently one of the most important policy challenges as countries and cities in the UNECE region face an undersupply of affordable housing, continuous increase of urban rents, low quality housing and urban infrastructure, limited access to land for housing construction and renovation, and mounting urban poverty and homelessness. The new coronavirus (COVID-19) situation underlines the importance of responding to the challenges of housing affordability, especially for the vulnerable groups.UNECE has long been working on improving housing affordability (see Earlier activities) and in 2015 endorsed the Geneva UN Charter on Sustainable Housing to support member States as they seek to ensure access to decent, adequate, affordable and healthy housing for all. The UNECE Committee on Urban Development, Housing and Land Management reviewed the implementation of the Charter at its 80th session in October 2019 and requested its Bureau to develop a study on improving housing affordability in the UNECE region. Similarly, the General Assembly of the Housing Europe, a network of housing providers from 24 countries in Europe, also requested its secretariat to develop a study on the same topic. In this regard, UNECE and Housing Europe formed a partnership and launched the #Housing2030 initiative – the housing affordability study. A kick off meeting was organized in London on 27 February 2020 to discuss planning of activities for the #Housing2030 study.
The secretariat of the study includes UNECE, Housing Europe and UN-Habitat.
Goal and objectives of the study
The goal of the study is to improve capacities of national and local governments to formulate policies that improve housing affordability and housing sustainability in the UNECE region.
The objectives of the study are to:
1) Explore housing affordability challenges and existing policy instruments for improving housing affordability in the UNECE region;
2) Facilitate the exchange and dissemination of "good practices" in improving housing affordability among countries and cities of the UNECE region;
3) Identify needs of policy-makers to further develop and implement policies addressing housing affordability.
Please see more information on the study in the Concept Note.
Related meetings
Online workshop "Access and Availability of land for Housing Construction"
Kick off meeting for the study - 27 February 2020, London
For more information on UNECE activities under the #Housing2030 study, please contact Ms. Gulnara Roll, Secretary to the Committee on Urban Development, Housing and Land Management at [email protected]
Earlier activities on housing affordabilty
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