Urban Housing

Rapid urbanization in many parts of the world has led to a great deal of challenges ensuring the availability of adequate housing. In the Middle East, this is coupled by the unique pressures of protracted displacement.

60 percent of refugees and 80 percent of internally displaced people globally now live in urban areas. Simultaneously, conflicts are longer lasting, and more severe. Traditional housing solutions, such as camps, are less and less adequate in these circumstances. But urbanization is simultaneously placing major demands on urban infrastructure. Large influxes of refugees can exacerbate these pressures, making refugees and displaced people increasingly unable to access affordable, quality, and stable housing. Displaced people living in cities face major problems such as poor quality housing, exploitation by landlords, housing locations which contribute to social isolation and leave families far from transportation, schools, employment, and social networks.

The hub is now digging into three main areas to identify the best opportunities for strengthening urban housing. Policy innovation might be one way to help municipalities plan for near- medium- and long-term solutions. For example, many innovative approaches to refugee housing have been developed. Policy innovations could help governments to use these in empty plots, which with a longer term plan for private sector investment to transform these areas into green space. Standardizing housing contracts could be another area of interest. Potential innovations could lie in leveraging cash programming to incentivize the creation of these contracts. Finally, there is likely space to work closely with tenants on bottom-up approaches to upgrade current housing, and examine potential uses for smart homes and technology use.