Power Shift: Radical Solutions to the Global Housing Crisis

The global housing crisis is a disaster – and it’s unjust. Ariana Karamallis argues for radical change that shifts power to the majority: the people who are affected. 

Syndicated from Urbanet.info

The housing crisis is one of the most pressing issues of our time. At the moment, 2.8 billion people worldwide are already living in inadequate housing. At least 1 billion of these live in slums and informal settlements. This involves unsafe, overcrowded housing without access to adequate basic services. Globally, inadequate housing is primarily inhabited by the poor. This means that the most vulnerable people inhabit the most unsafe homes. 

Additionally, the impacts of climate change are intensifying. Climate-related disasters leave 14 million people homeless every year – 240 climate-related disasters were reported in 2023 alone. Resilient housing is the best defense against the loss of lives and livelihoods. Unfortunately, those most in need of resilient housing and impacted by the effects of climate change are also the least able to access it.

Housing Justice and Disaster Resilience 

Current housing systems do not meet the needs of the majority and exclude those most in need of adequate housing. Furthermore, the commercialisation of land and housing – as well as global legal frameworks that disempower poor populations – hinder access to resources. 

The systematic marginalisation of the poor is the outcome of global structures that require a systems change approach to bring about meaningful change – with justice at the centre. Approaches to advancing resilient housing must be positioned first and foremost around the redistribution of power and resources and, therefore, must be rooted in housing justice principles. 

The Poorest Pay the Highest Price

Despite the increasingly severe impact that extreme weather and disasters have on low-income communities worldwide, disaster resilience is often left out of conversations about housing justice. Even though these communities are especially affected due to historical legacies of injustice and oppression related to nationality, ethnicity, race, class, or gender. We must bridge this gap, ensuring that resilience to extreme weather and disasters is central to the housing justice agenda. Build Change is a non-profit organisation that develops and scales societal solutions to overcome critical barriers related to policy, finance and technology that inhibit the adoption of disaster-resilient housing. The organisation’s experience shows that it is possible to provide disaster-resilient housing at scale to some of the most vulnerable communities in the Global South – and that this does not just rely on constructing new housing. 

Build Change follows an approach to change systems – addressing barriers related to policy, money, and finance. Its ample experience retrofitting existing housing means that the project can address the systemic failures that perpetuate housing injustice by shifting power to communities while ensuring that resilient housing contributes to a more sustainable future. Already, various aspects of Build Change’s work support a justice-centred agenda. 

• Homeowner-driven improvement: The most successful and sustainable housing programmes are driven by homeowners themselves. By channelling resources towards activities that raise homeowner awareness, build capacity, and provide training, we enable homeowners to invest “decision equity” in their homes, shifting power to them.
• Build Change’s technical assistance platform (BCtap): Making resilient housing more accessible through BCtap offers huge potential to streamline the provision of pro-poor resilient housing at scale, debunking the myth that governments, civil society, and other housing stakeholders have to compromise on resilience to reach scale.

• Incremental housing finance in the Philippines: Build Change co-developed innovative loan products with microfinance partners, enabling low-income homeowners –mostly women – to access affordable, incremental financing. This helps them strengthen their homes to better withstand extreme weather and earthquakes.
• Racial justice work in Colombia: Build Change’s recent work with Afro-Colombian populations brings a racial justice focus into its partnership with the Ministry of Housing, ensuring that government housing programmes acknowledge the history of racial injustice and are structured in a way that works towards rectifying them. 

 

The Housing Crisis in Africa – and the Opportunity for Housing Justice 

There is nowhere on the planet where the housing crisis—and the need for housing justice—is more acute or more urgent. Africa is the most rapidly urbanising region in the world. Currently, 200 million Africans live in urban slums and informal settlements, while Africa’s urban population is projected to double in the next years. Securing the right to adequate housing is crucial for resilient and just urban transitions in Africa. Hence, there is an urgent need for pro-poor, resilient housing solutions that are both sustainable and scalable, and a chance for Africa to take the lead in a justice-centred approach to housing.

To meet this need, African stakeholders must recognise the many benefits of and adopt strategies of incremental upgrading of informal housing at scale as well as other innovative housing solutions that grant informal, urban poor communities agency over their lives, their location in the city, and their right to stay. Until this happens, prejudices against the poor will continue to stand in the way of enacting effective solutions to African cities’ most challenging issues. 

This means a radical commitment to embracing new models and frameworks that centre shifting power to the majority, and that regard the unique elements of African urbanism as assets to build upon, rather than liabilities to be replaced. The collective energy of Africa’s homeowners and slum dweller movements holds huge potential to be leveraged to create new housing systems and markets that can transform Africa’s built environment sector. 

The Way Forward 

Heading towards 2030, we must not only examine how far we are but ask ourselves what change is necessary to meet the housing needs of the global majority. 

The creation of UN Habitat’s newly established Open-ended Intergovernmental Expert Working Group on Adequate Housing For All signals a renewed commitment to the global housing crisis by member states and key stakeholders. This is a promising step in the right direction, as are some of the outcomes of the Working Group’s first convening at the end of 2024. They include acknowledging the development, climate, and financing needs of slum and informal settlement residents, reflecting a clear understanding that addressing the housing crisis depends on meeting the needs of this global majority. Prospectively, we urge member states to make principles of housing justice a core of their housing and development agenda and push to establish global, regional and national policies, practices and funding mechanisms for a redistributive global agenda.  

At all levels, there is a need for a paradigm shift: one that, at its core, reflects the need and willingness for a power shift to marginalised, dehumanised, criminalised populations excluded for centuries. This means a willingness to embrace a new status and commitment to ensure a more just distribution of resources that can advance resilient housing for all.

 

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