Welcome to the United Nations
>Homelessness is one of the most evident illustration of poverty and social exclusion occurring in all countries and cities, threatening the health and life of people experiencing it. It is a violation of human rights, which should not be tolerated. People becoming homeless do not only lose their houses but are also uprooted from their family and social connections. They are prevented from accessing health and mental care, as well as from having access to education and job opportunities. This often makes it even more difficult to find and keep a new house.
The immediate cause of homelessness is often a specific circumstance in people’s life, but homelessness always has structural drivers. These drivers include poverty, shortage of affordable housing, lack of access to social protection, discrimination and social exclusion, privatization of public services, call for a coordinated and cross-sectoral framework of actions.
Governments, in partnership with all other stakeholders, are called upon to implement long-term solutions, including the provision of adequate housing, social protection policies and measures, and comprehensive and evidence-based national strategies to prevent and address homelessness.
The “Housing and Social Protection for all to End Homelessness” Roundtable, jointly organized by UN DESA and UN-Habitat, marks another milestone of the collaboration between the two agencies on the topic.
The Roundtable gathers high-level technical experts, as well as representatives of Governments, to discuss the new urgency of addressing homelessness within the context of a COVID-19 new normal, as well as the opportunities arising from the collaborations established throughout the response phase.
The event also builds on the lessons learnt through the Expert Group Meeting on Affordable Housing and Social Protection Systems for All to Address Homelessness (May 2019), the 58th Commission on Social Development (February 2020) and the historical first United Nations resolution to address homelessness that was adopted by the UN Economic and Social Council in June 2020.
Housing4All Campaign
Join us with UN-Habitat on 12 October at 10 am (NY Time) to raise awareness about #Housing4All and End Homelessness. Register here: bit.ly/2IhF0EZ.
Watch the full event below
https://youtu.be/xF299zM_S9M
For more information, please visit: https://unhabitat.org/Housing4All