Homeless International

The UK Housing Sector understands that the provision of housing is at the forefront of the fight against poverty. The Sector is ideally placed to bring its knowledge and expertise to work with the global housing challenge.

1 billion people around the world live in slums; unless urgent action is taken, this figure will increase to 1.4 billion people by 2020. Not having access to safe and secure shelter and a concept of home impacts negatively on many lives, impacting on health, safety, psychological well-being, education and economic opportunities.

A slum is a place where residents suffer from one or more of the following: inadequate access to safe water, inadequate access to sanitation, overcrowding, poorly built and maintained homes, and insecurity of tenure or the threat of eviction. Global housing poverty has many causes but the inattention of governments, the lack of planning for population movement, income levels and costs of legal housing, land markets and difficulties in securing tenure need to be addressed if this imbalance is to be restored.

The UK Housing Sector

The End World Slums campaign aims to mobilise support in the UK from those who are best placed to understand the challenges. The campaign aims to shine the spotlight on global housing poverty, helping slum communities to create solutions to the challenges of poverty, health, education and basic equality.

Safe secure shelter is a basic human right. The UK Housing Sector has a significant role to play in supporting the development of local communities internationally, and the Government needs to understand the importance of global housing in its international agenda. To find out more about this campaign read our manifesto