Human Settlements and Urban Issues
#Housing2030: Effective Policies for Affordable Housing in the UNECE Region
The study explores housing affordability challenges and existing policy instruments for improving housing affordability in the regions covered by UNECE and presents examples of "good practices" in improving housing affordability among countries and cities. The study focuses on four topics namely: housing governance and regulation; access to finance and funding; access and availability of land for housing construction; and Climate-neutral housing construction and renovation.
Finance
Housing finance can be seen as both the servant and master of housing systems. Housing is often expensive to produce and challenging to pay for because the costs of its construction or purchase must be paid for upfront in a lump sum prior to construction. Therefore housing finance instruments such as mortgages are required to enable households to pay for housing. However once constrained locally focused and closely regulated mortgage markets and financing products have been set free and ballooned on a global scale in recent decades. The impact of this is by no means universally positive. Indeed many economic crises have their origins in loosely regulated housing finance systems.
Conclusions
Housing is central to people’s lives health dignity safety and their neighbourhoods. Housing also contributes significantly to social solidarity environmental sustainability and economic stability. In the 21st century the governance land and finance systems that influence the delivery and consumption of housing have been beset by numerous crises. Emanating from climate change unguided investment flows and most recently a global pandemic these crises have had profound consequences for the people and the planet.
Executive summary
#Housing2030 and its online repository of best practices makes clear what affordable housing entails: effective governance strategic land policy as well as purposeful circuits of investment and active promotion of climate neutral and affordable housing and neighbourhoods. The study draws on the experience of over 100 researchers policymakers housing providers and advocates from across the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE) region and beyond to define useful approaches outline their advantages and disadvantages and illustrate their practical application. The study involved an extraordinary level of stakeholder engagement despite the constraints of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic using survey instruments online workshops and podcasts in order to maximize the exchange of policy experience and good practices.
Introduction
Our homes can offer an oasis for human flourishing in a sustainable living planet. Housing policy plays a key role in achieving this goal. Ensuring sustainable development and realizing the right to adequate housing involves long term strategic effort requiring well-informed policy design capable implementation as well as regular evaluation and adaptation over time. Placing housing at the centre of urban policy accelerates the achievement of the SDGs and goals of the Geneva UN Charter on Sustainable Housing and progresses implementation of the Housing Partnership Action Plan towards the provision of decent adequate affordable and healthy housing for all. This study offers many positive policy tools for housing systems in order to deliver more affordable climate-neutral homes across the UNECE region.
Climate-neutral housing
In 2019 the buildings and construction sector accounted for 36 per cent of final energy use. CO2 emissions from the operation of buildings have increased to their highest level yet at around 10 GtCO2 or 28 per cent of total global energy-related CO2 emissions. With the inclusion of emissions from the buildings construction industry this share increases to 38 per cent of total global energyrelated CO2 emissions. According to UNECE in the economically developed countries buildings consume over 70 per cent of the electrical power generated and 40 per cent of primary energy and are responsible for 40 per cent of CO2 emissions from combustion. Therefore buildings have the largest potential for improving energy efficiency (EE) and mitigating greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. Renewable energy technology alone cannot meet EE and GHG emission requirements despite recent improvements.
Governance
Good governance shapes the effective functioning of housing systems. Without it the availability of other factors such as land capital and expertise might be squandered or at least not be used to their full potential. Good governance also includes a clear understanding of stakeholder roles for example national regional and local government the judicial system housing providers and individual households. It also defines responsibilities and systems of monitoring and accountability for decisionmaking policy development and implementation.
Foreword
At least 100 million low and middle-income people in the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE) region are housing cost overburdened; they spend more than 40 per cent of their disposable income on housing. Housing affordability is an important element of the right to adequate housing but is often a challenge for groups of the population facing vulnerabilities. These include young people senior citizens large families with children and people who suffer from limited access to healthcare fuel poverty and price inflation of essential goods and services. Housing affordability remains a major challenge also for middleincome earners especially in many large cities where rents are skyrocketing and the quality of available housing is often low.
Land
Land policies play a major role in improving the capacity of housing systems to deliver affordable and adequate homes. Good land policies can shape markets that promote more inclusive stable and sustainable living environments which strengthen communities and support productive economic development by enabling more affordable housing to be provided. These policies can also help to achieve the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals and realize the Right to Adequate Housing.
Autonomiser les populations et enclencher la transformation
La première partie du Rapport a montré comment la marche vers le développement humain dans l’Anthropocène s’accompagne de changements en profondeur et a fait valoir que les gens peuvent apporter des changements en agissant à travers des processus sociaux économiques et politiques – une notion qui est au coeur de l’approche du développement humain. Par conséquent le renforcement de la capacité d’agir et des libertés humaines est essentiel pour permettre cette transformation tout en gardant le cap sur le renforcement de l’équité l’innovation et la protection de la planète.
Remerciements
La pandémie de COVID-19 a touché tout le monde partout. Face aux souffrances indicibles l’élaboration du Rapport sur le développement humain est souvent apparue moins urgente au cours de l’année 2020. L’équipe du Rapport a néanmoins ressenti le besoin de consigner l’évolution et les conséquences dévastatrices de la pandémie sur le développement humain en appui à la réponse du PNUD à la crise. La planification structurée des consultations et des réunions d’équipe a dû être abandonnée ou modifiée d’une manière inédite. Il a donc fallu repenser le processus habituel de préparation du Rapport. Plusieurs fois nous avons pensé qu’il ne serait jamais terminé à temps. Cela n’a été possible que parce que nous étions convaincus que ce Rapport avait quelque chose d’important à dire sur la crise de cette année que nous tenions à honorer le trentième anniversaire des Rapports sur le développement humain et que nous avons bénéficié des encouragements de la générosité et des contributions de très nombreuses personnes auxquelles ces remerciements ne sauraient rendre hommage que de façon partielle et imparfaite.
Créer des incitations pour bâtir l’avenir
Qu’il s’agisse des choix des consommateurs pour leurs achats des types de production et d’échange des entreprises des secteurs où les investisseurs placent leur argent ou de la coopération entre les gouvernements tous ces domaines sont influencés par les incitations. Ces dernières ne sont pas les seuls facteurs du comportement – les normes sociales comptent pour beaucoup (chapitre 4) – mais même si les gens ne changent pas d’avis ils sont néanmoins susceptibles de réagir à des incitations qui peuvent soit augmenter soit atténuer les pressions exercées sur la planète. Ce chapitre s'intéresse à la façon dont les incitations contribuent à expliquer les modèles actuels de consommation de production et d’investissement et les autres choix qui conduisent aux déséquilibres planétaires et sociaux documentés dans la première partie. Il analyse comment ces modèles pourraient évoluer de manière à atténuer les pressions exercées sur la planète et à faire progresser le développement humain dans l’Anthropocène. Pour ce faire il examine trois domaines : le financement les prix et l’action collective internationale.
Panorama General
Nos encontramos en un momento sin precedentes en la historia de la humanidad y de nuestro planeta. Se han encendido luces de alarma respecto de nuestras sociedades y el mundo. De hecho ya llevaban un tiempo encendidas como bien sabemos. La pandemia de COVID-19 es la consecuencia más reciente y aterradora de unos desequilibrios generalizados. Los científicos han advertido insistentemente que las interacciones entre los seres humanos el ganado y la fauna y flora silvestres provocarían cada vez con mayor frecuencia la aparición de patógenos con los que no estamos familiarizados. Dichas interacciones han ido aumentado sin cesar tanto en escala como en intensidad ejerciendo en última instancia una presión tan elevada sobre los ecosistemas locales que ha dado lugar a la propagación de virus mortales. Es posible que el nuevo coronavirus sea el más reciente pero a menos que mejoremos nuestra relación con la naturaleza no será el último.
Definir la senda del desarrollo humano en el Antropoceno
Nos estamos adentrando en una nueva época geológica: el Antropoceno. La era de los seres humanos.