The housing crisis also poses a threat to the future of democracy, Secretary General of United Cities and Local Governments (UCLG) Emilia Saiz said during the high-level dialogue titled “The Global Housing Crisis – What’s the Plan?” held within the framework of WUF13, APA-Economics reports.
According to her, the housing crisis is no longer only an issue related to urbanization or informal settlements, but has also become one of the main challenges on the development and democracy agenda.
Emilia Saiz noted that the fact that even people with permanent jobs are currently struggling to obtain affordable housing shows that the scale of the problem is expanding further.
The Secretary General stressed the importance of approaching housing issues from the perspective of human rights, social justice, and dignity. According to her, in many cases social housing is built in unsuitable areas, while people who build their own homes in informal settlements are displaced from those areas as land values increase.
Emilia Saiz emphasized that in many countries around the world, land and housing are viewed not as a social right but as a commercial asset, and that this approach further deepens the affordable housing problem. She added that the role of local and regional authorities in the decision-making process should be strengthened in order to resolve the global housing crisis.
