The world does not build housing without subsidies, Executive Director of UN-Habitat, Anacláudia Rossbach, said during the session titled “A New Deal for Housing Finance” held within the framework of WUF13, APA-Economics reports.
She stated that all countries around the world use various subsidy and incentive mechanisms in the housing sector: “Housing is not produced on this planet without subsidies.”
Anacláudia Rossbach noted that there is a major gap between salaries and housing prices, especially in Global South countries, and for this reason greater state support is needed.
The UN-Habitat chief emphasized that housing policy is not only about building houses, but about shaping a complete living environment: “We are not just building houses, we are creating living environments.”
According to her, housing projects should be planned together with transport, public spaces, access to jobs, social services, and community infrastructure.
Anacláudia Rossbach added that the financial independence and resource capacity of local governments play a key role in this process. She said that UN-Habitat and international financial institutions are working on increasing municipal revenues and developing land-based financing mechanisms.
