Adequate, Resilient Housing: A Global Imperative for Climate and Development

Last month, Build Change joined the High-Level Dialogue on Adequate Housing for All, hosted by UN-Habitat and ECOSOC during the High-Level Political Forum in New York. This gathering of global leaders focused on advancing adequate housing in both development and climate agendas—critical groundwork ahead of this year’s World Social Summit and COP30.

The scale of the challenge is staggering: nearly 3 billion people live in inadequate housing, vulnerable to increasingly frequent and severe climate hazards—fires, floods, windstorms, earthquakes, and extreme heat. These are not just unsafe structures; they are daily threats to life, health, and livelihoods. This aspect of the housing crisis–the qualitative housing deficit–continues to be grossly underestimated, leading to housing quality and resilience being underprioritised in housing policies and solutions. 

Adequate housing is more than a roof over one’s head—it is a fundamental human right, enshrined in international law and many national constitutions. It is essential to advancing human development, social protection, and the Sustainable Development Goals—especially SDGs 1 (No Poverty), 3 (Good Health and Well-being), 5 (Gender Equality), 8 (Decent Work), and 11 (Sustainable Cities and Communities).

Yet housing systems are failing. More than two billion people live in informal settlements while policies, financing, and technical capacity remain far from what’s needed. At the same time, climate disasters are displacing 22 million people annually (IDMC, UNHCR), disproportionately affecting those already living in poor-quality housing—people who have contributed the least to climate change.

This is not just a development crisis—it is a climate and housing justice crisis.

The Dual Mandate: Adaptation and Mitigation

Housing is at the intersection of two defining challenges of our time: the climate crisis and the housing crisis. The building sector accounts for roughly 37% of global carbon emissions, making housing a key player in meeting both adaptation and mitigation goals. Solutions must be resilient to hazards and low-carbon by design—and they must be affordable, scalable, and inclusive.

Urbanization is accelerating. In Africa alone, 80% of the buildings that will exist in 2050 have yet to be built—nearly 90% of them residential. Across much of the Global South, homes are built informally by homeowners and local laborers—the backbone of urban growth. Supporting these actors to upgrade existing homes and build safer new ones is the most cost-effective, sustainable, and equitable way to close both the quantitative and qualitative housing gap.

Research by Build Change shows that retrofitting existing homes—where feasible—is more affordable, more environmentally friendly, and more beneficial for communities than building new. Our 2023 study Saving Embodied Carbon through Strengthening Existing Housing found that upgrading could improve conditions for 268 million households while preventing up to 4.8 gigatons of CO₂ emissions.

What It Will Take: Policy, Finance, and Technology

Scaling resilient housing requires systems change. Without supportive regulations, accessible financing for low-income households, and affordable, locally adapted technical solutions that look at the structural resilience of homes, progress will remain out of reach. These solutions already exist—but they need political will, financing, and coordinated action to reach scale.  

This month in Nairobi, Build Change CEO Juan Caballero and Global Advocacy & Development Manager Ariana Karamallis met with UN-Habitat Executive Director Anaclaudia Rossbach to discuss how we can work together to make adequate, resilient housing a reality.

Our approach includes interventions at various points along housing value chain:

• Homeowner-driven systems change: engaging residents from the outset to ensure solutions meet their needs.
• Focus on informal housing in low-income communities: reaching those least able to access resilience upgrades.
• Pre- and post-disaster action: upgrading homes to be climate- and disaster-resilient is more affordable, sustainable, and community-centered.
• Support for safe new construction: building skills and capacity in the local workforce, creating jobs and livelihoods.
• Technical expertise: engineering, architecture, and design for safety and quality.
• Policy advisory: shaping resilient housing programs, integrating informal housing upgrades into national building codes, and contributing to global housing policy dialogues.

A Call to Action for Global Leaders

As we approach the Urban20 Summit, the second session of the Open-Ended Intergovernmental Working Group on Adequate Housing for All, the Heads of State Roundtable on Housing scheduled to be held during UNGA, and COP30, we urge Member States to:

• Develop and implement enabling policy frameworks for resilient housing;
• Mobilize and allocate financial resources; and
• Invest in practical, scalable technical solutions that reach low-income and hard-to-reach communities.

Now is the time to act—to transform housing systems so that no one is left behind in the face of climate change.

Adequate, resilient housing is one of the world’s most pressing needs—and one of our greatest opportunities—to advance climate action, social justice, and sustainable development. Together, we can ensure that everyone, everywhere, has a safe, dignified, and climate-resilient home.