UN sustainable housing programme calls for upgrading of ever larger slums

The United Nations programme for sustainable housing and urban development today called for the upgrading of slums as their population threatens to rise to nearly a billion and a half by 2015, the year which the UN has set as the deadline for halving or eradicating a host of socio-economic ills.

The UN Human Settlements Programme, or UN-HABITAT, helps governments implement the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) which seek to halve the number of poor people lacking clean water and adequate sanitation by 2015 and to improve the overall living conditions of 100 million slum dwellers by 2020.

“There is still a lot more to be done, especially as the numbers of slum dwellers continue to increase annually. Slum upgrading and integrated urban development are a major challenge and urgent measures need to be put in place to arrest the proliferation of slums and squatter settlements. One of the sad truths of our time is the increasing urbanization of poverty,” UN-HABITAT Executive Director Anna Tibaijuka says in a report on the programme’s achievements and challenges.

The programme’s report comes as part of a larger UN review of the world’s progress towards reaching the eight MDGs.

UN-HABITAT says it initiated a Slum Upgrading Facility (SUF) last year to coordinate technical cooperation and provide seed capital to promote bankable, affordable housing projects for low-income people, upgrade slums and provide urban infrastructure in the towns and cities of the developing world. SUF links local authorities, community-based organizations, local financial institutions and international donors.

Between 1990 and 2000 the world’s slum dwellers increased by 200 million, from about 700 million to 900 million, and the biggest numbers are now found in South Asia, eastern Asia and sub-Saharan Africa, it says.

In moving towards its goals, UN-HABITAT started “Water for African Cities,” “Water for Asian Cities” and “Water for Eastern European Cities.” Access to drinking water sources has increased substantially, it says, but a billion people have not yet been provided for and even slower progress has been made on improving sanitation.