Housing Forum Europe & Central Asia

It’s a pleasure to join efforts for this important Forum with esteemed organizations and sister UN agencies, with whom UNDP enjoys good cooperation. Annually, UNDP co-organizes an international energy forum in this region with UNECE. In many countries, UNDP works with the national red cross/ red crescent agencies associated with IFRC. UNDP and Habitat for Humanity share lessons learned and coordinate approaches, for example on energy efficiency in multi-family housing.

I would like to being my remarks by sharing insights from national discussions being held in more than 50 countries on the post-2015 development agenda and how they relate to the goals of the Housing Forum. The discussions, which are being organized by UNDP together with other UN agencies, are providing input to new sustainable development goals which will be universal in nature, meaning they be for all countries, not only developing countries. Why universal goals? Even in middle and high income countries we see that social deprivation does not disappear but evolves with new characteristics and challenges. Moreover, through trade and effects of climate change we realize that food security and environmental issues are interconnected across countries.

How is housing showing up in these national discussions? One of the issues raised in Kazakhstan was affordable housing, especially among young people. Young people are less confident about their future because they are not able to access and afford housing, even through state housing programs. In Kazakhstan there is a huge inflow of labor migrants from neighboring countries and the question of decent housing for the migrants was raised as a critical issue.

In Albania the main issue is the squatter housing of internal migrants who move from poor rural areas to the outskirts of cities. Kosovo too has a large number of peri-urban poor  who feel trapped in negative cycles. In Kosovo, returnees from the war period first focus on basic needs such as housing and put other needs such as education and public participation second, once their survival needs are met.

In Turkey, people are worried about being homeless from natural disasters, such as from the devastating earthquake in Eastern Turkey in 2011. Many people from the province of Van are unwilling to return home for fear of further quakes. The national discussions in Turkey have also highlighted inequality and housing is an important manifestation of the unequal living conditions within the country.

During the Housing Forum, you will have the opportunity to hear about some of UNDP’s current work related to housing, which ranges from strengthening Roma integration, improving energy efficiency in buildings, and encouraging community-led development including women leaders in homeowners associations. For example, in Ukraine, UNDP is working in 29 cities to create new forms of housing management to improve the quality of housing services.

In many countries, UNDP works to improve the energy efficiency of housing. In the case of Turkey, an integrated building design approach is being promoted that is based on traditional and new technologies. In Uzbekistan, rural housing has been targeted as part of local rural development and in doing so has integrated energy efficiency in the design of rural housing.

UNDP has found that energy for housing is not gender neutral. On the negative side, women bear the main burden of providing and using biomass energy for cooking. On the positive side, women have been active in homeowners associations for multi-family housing, and they have become leaders in creating more sustainable housing.

In the disadvantaged Roma communities, it is women who are even more vulnerable; for example, they do not even enjoy the informal housing tenure that their male counterparts have.  A recent study conducted by UNDP and the World Bank and co-funded by the European Commission in 12 countries of Central, Eastern and South-Eastern Europe documents the sub-standard conditions of many Roma settlements which result in greater incidence of asthma and lung disease. Roma exclusion that may begin with housing ultimately impacts employment opportunities, education and health. From our work in Cluj, Romania, UNDP has found that de-segregating housing has been key to making it more possible for Roma to benefit from economic development. By using an integrated territorial approach we have been able to reach the local community, and through long-term community coaching to change the pattern of passive communities.

Housing challenges are complex – they relate to exclusion, affordability, sustainability and increased mobility. UNDP is participating in the Housing Forum because we believe sustainable and inclusive housing solutions are an enabler of development. As such, housing is an integral part of UNDP’s main development mandates of improving governance and reducing poverty in an environmentally sustainable manner.