Afghanistan housing profile launched in Nairobi

Increasing urban population growth brought about by the influx of Internally Displaced Persons, an ever growing number of returnees and rural migrants, in addition to natural population growth itself, have made the provision of adequate housing for all Afghans one of the most crucial challenges facing the country today. In Afghanistan, 40.000 new housing units are needed and these figures are projected to increase, making the gap between housing need and supply for housing is very large.

The UN-Habitat and the Afghan Government are looking forward to closing this gap. The Afghanistan Housing Profile, launched during the 26th Governing Council in Nairobi in an event which was attended by Afghan’s Minister for Urban Development and Housing Sadat Mansoor Naderi and the Executive Director of the UN-Habitat Dr. Joan Clos, will provide practitioners and policy makers alike with a comprehensive assessment of housing sector data to guide their next steps and trigger policy reforms.

This Housing Profile is an important tool for examining policy, legislative and regulatory responses, and developing concrete housing projects to improve the lives of people. The policies interventions will be aimed at multiple levels, from building a housing finance market which caters to the actual needs and capacities of Afghans, to making use of both non-collateralized lending as well as commercial products, and building Afghans’ trust in the system. It will target the reintegration of returnees and IDPs at an enormous scale, in a way that opportunities are created and sustainable communities are built.