BAKU, Azerbaijan, May 19. Housing solutions
must be integrated with broader legal, planning and social reforms
to effectively address the global housing crisis, said Anaclaudia
Rossbach, Trend
reports.


Speaking Tuesday during a dialogue titled “The Global Housing
Crisis: What’s the Agenda for Action?” at the 13th session of the
World Urban Forum 13, Rossbach said housing policy cannot be
addressed in isolation.


“This is precisely what we discussed at the Open-Ended Working
Group on Housing — an important initiative of member states
supported by UN-Habitat,” she said. “Housing policy must be
integrated with legal, policy and planning reforms.”


Rossbach stressed the importance of effective land governance
and land policy, warning that the continued expansion of informal
settlements remains a global emergency.


“We are talking about more than one billion people living in
informal settlements,” she said. “We need to consider territorial
development, understand how space is organized, how secondary and
intermediate cities develop, and recognize the scale of the
challenges facing megacities and large urban agglomerations.”


She added that housing strategies should be aligned with wider
social, economic and climate objectives.







“At the same time, our approach must remain comprehensive and
contextualized, linking housing policy with social, economic and
climate goals,” Rossbach said.


The third day of World Urban Forum 13 is underway in Baku, where
more than 40,000 participants from 182 countries have gathered to
discuss sustainable urban development.


The forum’s opening days featured ministerial meetings on the
New Urban Agenda, high-level discussions on urban sustainability
and the global housing crisis, as well as the inaugural Leaders’
Summit. Organizers also opened the Mexico City pavilion, aimed at
strengthening cooperation with Latin America ahead of WUF14.


Held under the theme “Housing for All: Safe and Sustainable
Cities and Communities,” the forum runs through May 22 and brings
together governments, international organizations, experts and
civil society representatives from around the world.