Regional Perspectives & Conference Outlook

Welfare State & Housing Rights

Europe generally adopts a rights-based approach to homelessness. Countries that prioritize individual rights believe that providing housing and resettlement for the homeless is the responsibility of the state and government.

Groups disproportionately affected by homelessness worldwide

However, concerns remain. Reports indicate that the basic rights of migrants continue to be violated. Homelessness has become an embedded feature of asylum procedures in too many countries — even after being granted international protection status, beneficiaries still face a very high risk of homelessness.

Data from the OECD and EU show that within the EU, foreign-born individuals face nearly twice the risk of poverty and social exclusion compared to native-born individuals.

Development-First Approaches

Many Asian countries view homelessness through a development-first lens. They believe that rather than prioritizing individual rights, the state must first focus on collective development before it will have the capacity to support the homeless.

In some regions, homelessness is viewed as a burden on urban management and a personal responsibility resulting from individual behavior. These nations, generally still in the process of development, argue that the state has no obligation to provide a safety net for the homeless at the expense of broader economic growth.

This reflects a fundamental tension between prioritizing the right to development and the universality of human rights — a tension that lies at the heart of this conference.

Dharavi, Mumbai — rapid urbanization has outpaced housing supply across Asia, creating vast informal settlements

Informal Settlements & Urbanization

Latin America: Rapid urbanization has outpaced housing supply, leading to the continuous expansion of informal settlements and slums. Land ownership is virtually out of reach for most ordinary people, and severe inequalities in land distribution further exacerbate the housing affordability crisis.

Africa: Sub-Saharan Africa faces the most acute challenges. On average, households spend 43.5% of income on housing. The housing gap exceeds 51 million units.

Internal displacement in sub-Saharan Africa has reached a record high, accounting for approximately 46% of the global total.

Indigenous Housing & Climate Displacement

Oceania presents two distinct dimensions of homelessness:

Indigenous housing: In Australia and New Zealand, indigenous populations face disproportionately high rates of homelessness due to historical dispossession, systemic discrimination, and inadequate housing infrastructure in remote communities.

Pacific Island nations: For small island states, climate-induced displacement is an existential threat. Sea-level rise is already causing displacement, yet there remains a lack of international consensus on the legal status of displacement and homelessness caused by environmental factors.

Global Policy & Draft Resolutions

The UN Human Rights Council produces a report on homeless populations almost every two years. At the 80th session, UNGA3 addressed this issue with report A/80/316 and draft resolution A/C.3/80/L.16 proposed by African nations.

Key challenges in the international community:

• No unified definition: The lack of a globally unified definition of homelessness and reliable data remains the primary obstacle.
• Fragmented funding: Budget cuts and the rise of protectionism have reduced international development aid.
• Politicization: Human rights have been increasingly weaponized in geopolitical maneuvering, becoming a tool for shaping public opinion.
• Vagrancy laws: In some regions, laws target and penalize those living outdoors, often exacerbating the problem without addressing root causes.

Although previous draft resolutions on this topic were adopted without voting, recent sessions have seen rifts emerging. This reflects the growing divide in how nations approach the right to housing and development.

Guiding Questions for Debate

As you prepare for this conference, consider these critical questions:

Your choices as delegates will form the core of this conference. For choice implies sacrifice. How should you weigh options based on your country’s internal circumstances? Which is more important: the people or the state?