Global Affordable Housing Shortages – Lack of reliable access to adequate housing is disrupting migrants’ integration opportunities

Lack of affordable housing worldwide is becoming a global crisis. An estimated 1.6 billion people—one-fifth of humanity—lack access to adequate housing and basic services, according to the UN special rapporteur on the right to adequate housing, and this number could rise to 3 billion by 2030. Over the last decade, housing prices have grown faster than incomes in most countries of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD). The housing crisis is complex, characterized by a lack of units especially for low- and middle-income people, and it impacts the native born and immigrants alike. As countries around the world contend with increasing displacement, lack of reliable access to adequate housing is disrupting migrants’ integration opportunities and is generating competition between natives and newcomers that can blunt the spirit of welcome or fan anti-immigrant fervor.

Many factors contribute to the housing crisis. For one, the number of homes has simply not kept up with population growth, especially in urban areas that are getting more crowded. Globally, the population rose from 7 billion in 2011 to more than 8 billion as of this writing. About 394 million people lived in Latin America and the Caribbean in 2000, for instance, but the population is expected to reach 609 million in 2030. Much of that growth will be in urban areas, where housing is already strained. The region’s challenges are longstanding; the housing deficit grew from 38 million in 1990 to 52 million in 2000, according to Habitat for Humanity. Many of those who have housing nonetheless lack water, sanitation, and other basic essentials that would qualify their home as being adequate and safe.

Different Settings, Similar Challenges

One of the clearest examples of the challenges of the housing crisis and its impact on refugees and other displaced people is in Europe, where the arrival of 7.8 million Ukrainians after Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022 has added to pre-existing housing shortages.

Chosen excerpts by Job Market Monitor. Read the whole story @ : Article: Global Affordable Housing Shortages Can H.. | migrationpolicy.org