World · Europe · 4 hrs ago
UN-Habitat chief says housing policies are failing as crisis spreads globally
UN-Habitat chief Anacláudia Rossbach says the world is facing a housing crisis that existing policies have not solved.
The problem, once especially severe in the global South, now affects people in Europe and North America, where many young people cannot afford to rent or buy and some older people struggle to keep their homes.
Housing prices are rising faster than incomes, driven by inequality, inflation, high land costs and a shortage of homes.
Rossbach says decades of inaction by national and local governments have contributed, while private companies also need to help expand housing sustainably.
She recommends that governments at different levels coordinate, plan how cities will grow and consider the social role of unused or underused land.
Reusing buildings and limiting emissions should also be part of planning, she says, as cities respond to climate change.
UN-Habitat chief Anacláudia Rossbach says housing policies are failing as a housing crisis spreads across the world.
She says the gap between housing prices and incomes has widened in Europe and North America as well as the Global South.
Rossbach attributes the crisis to structural inequality, inflationary effects since Covid, the crisis in the Middle East and rising land prices.
She says decades of inaction by national and local governments, along with limited initiative from the private sector, have contributed to the problem.
She recommends coordination across levels of government, strategic land planning and making use of vacant or underused spaces.
- Who
- Anacláudia Rossbach, head of UN-Habitat and a UN under-secretary-general.
- What
- She says housing policies are failing and the housing crisis has become global.
- When
- She spoke to El País on the previous Friday; the article was published on 10 November 2026.
- Where
- The interview took place in Madrid.
- Why
- Rossbach cites inequality, inflationary effects since Covid, the crisis in the Middle East, rising land prices and an imbalance between housing supply and demand.
This story does not have two clearly opposing sides.
Anacláudia Rossbach took the helm of UN-Habitat.
Rossbach spoke to El País in Madrid after arriving from China and before travelling to the COP31 climate summit in Turkey.
El País published the interview.
- UN-Habitat chief
- Anacláudia Rossbach
- Interview location
- Madrid
- Article publication date
- 10 November 2026
- Rossbach’s tenure
- More than two years at the helm of UN-Habitat
- Next destination
- COP31 climate summit in Turkey
1 source
What people are saying
We are facing a global housing crisis.
The housing policies we had are not working.
This has been a structural problem in the Global South, where the gap between incomes and housing prices has always been very large.
In many cases, national and local governments have failed, due to a lack of effective housing policies and inaction in planning land.