Understanding the Housing Issues: Global Context
By 2030, UN-Habitat estimates that 3 billion people, about 40 per cent of the world’s population, will need access to adequate housing. This translates into a demand for 96,000 new affordable and accessible housing units every day. Additionally, an estimated 100 million people worldwide are homeless and one in four people live in harmful conditions that to their health, safety and prosperity.1 besides, about one in four urban dwellers globally lives in slums or informal settlements under deplorable housing conditions. This translates into more than 1 billion people of which 230 million people live in sub-Saharan Africa where more than half the urban population are slum dwellers.
Access to housing is a precondition for access to employment, education, health, and social services. In order to address the current housing challenges, all levels of government should put housing at the center of urban policies by placing people and human rights at the forefront of urban sustainable development.
Liberian Context
Liberia’s urban population increased from 47% in 2008 to 54.5% in 20222 which means more people are urbanizing faster than the urban housing developments can incorporate them. As a result, in Monrovia alone, 70% of the population lives in slum.3
Moreover, the percentage of urban population without improved access to safe drinking water increased from 21.6% in 2008 to 23.4% in 2022.4 Sanitation is also a challenge. Over a quarter urban households use the bush (outback) while about 35% use covered pit latrines outside their homes.5 Alarmingly, the percentage of female headed households ages (13-17) within urban areas is 52%.6 Inappropriate city planning and land-use management have contributed to the emergence of slums across Liberia’s urban landscape.
More than 200,000 new dwelling units are needed to reduce current crowding. An additional 163,035 housing units are needed to keep up with population growth.
Besides, 4,891 housing units are needed to replace old and damaged housing at 3% per annum. A total of 512, 000 urban dwellings are needed by 2030 at the rate of 30,000 new dwellings per year and one every 4.8 minutes of the working day.