Related News
Home » Opinion » Foreign Views
Housing not just a roof, it breaks poverty cycle
By Kester Yim |
September 28, 2012, Friday
|
Print Edition
Print Edition
ON World Habitat Day (October 1), we need to take stock of the housing crisis in the Asia-Pacific Region and take swift action. Housing is more than roof and four walls - along with sanitation, it can help break the cycle of poverty.
The Asia-Pacific region is home to more than four billion people and some of the world's most dynamic economies. Yet, not everyone has a decent place to call home. One in eight, or 500 million people, lives in a slum and that figure is expected to grow, United Nations statistics show.
This housing crisis will only intensify as the Asia-Pacific's population is projected to increase from the current four billion to five billion by 2050, according to the Asian Development Bank. The expanding housing backlog will need solutions beyond just government interventions.
Basic provisions such as housing and sanitation have not kept pace with economic growth in large parts of the region where emerging economies are located. Disasters have further exposed shortcomings. The lack of investment in decent homes, infrastructure and preparedness is exposing people living in sub-standard housing on disaster-prone areas to the full force of natural calamities.
Housing is the critical foundation for breaking the cycle of poverty. Families living in safe and decent homes see improvements in health, education and employment opportunities. A World Bank research project shows that the simple act of changing from an earth to cement floor can lead to a dramatic decrease in parasitic infections and huge improvements in a child's cognitive development.
The traditional approach to tackling poverty housing by simply building more homes is one dimensional and limiting. Solving the problem requires addressing land rights inequality, infrastructure planning, basic services provision, employment creation, and giving low-income families access to micro-loan and micro-saving products.
These solutions must be bold and also draw participation of key actors from the business world and civil society. The private sector has much to gain from a region of better educated, healthier, wealthier people living in decent shelter.
Headway is being made and examples of great public-private sector innovations and business models are evident across the region, but the scale and pace need to be intensified. The decisions and strategies taken in the next decade will determine what the human development landscape looks like come 2050. Hard-working, low-income Chinese families have helped bring the nation to where it is today. They deserve to have their basic needs met. Shelter is one of them.
Habitat for Humanity China needs hundreds of volunteers in October - to improve homes for disabled people in Hong Kong, the elderly in Shanghai, low-income families in Yunnan and Guangdong provinces and the Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region and to travel to Thailand, Fiji, Malaysia and Indonesia. Visit habitatchina.org.
Kester Yim is managing director of Habitat for Humanity China, which works in Guangdong, Sichuan and Yunnan Provinces, the Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, Shanghai and Hong Kong. It has built and rehabilitated over 3,700 houses, serving more than 10,100 people.
The Asia-Pacific region is home to more than four billion people and some of the world's most dynamic economies. Yet, not everyone has a decent place to call home. One in eight, or 500 million people, lives in a slum and that figure is expected to grow, United Nations statistics show.
This housing crisis will only intensify as the Asia-Pacific's population is projected to increase from the current four billion to five billion by 2050, according to the Asian Development Bank. The expanding housing backlog will need solutions beyond just government interventions.
Basic provisions such as housing and sanitation have not kept pace with economic growth in large parts of the region where emerging economies are located. Disasters have further exposed shortcomings. The lack of investment in decent homes, infrastructure and preparedness is exposing people living in sub-standard housing on disaster-prone areas to the full force of natural calamities.
Housing is the critical foundation for breaking the cycle of poverty. Families living in safe and decent homes see improvements in health, education and employment opportunities. A World Bank research project shows that the simple act of changing from an earth to cement floor can lead to a dramatic decrease in parasitic infections and huge improvements in a child's cognitive development.
The traditional approach to tackling poverty housing by simply building more homes is one dimensional and limiting. Solving the problem requires addressing land rights inequality, infrastructure planning, basic services provision, employment creation, and giving low-income families access to micro-loan and micro-saving products.
These solutions must be bold and also draw participation of key actors from the business world and civil society. The private sector has much to gain from a region of better educated, healthier, wealthier people living in decent shelter.
Headway is being made and examples of great public-private sector innovations and business models are evident across the region, but the scale and pace need to be intensified. The decisions and strategies taken in the next decade will determine what the human development landscape looks like come 2050. Hard-working, low-income Chinese families have helped bring the nation to where it is today. They deserve to have their basic needs met. Shelter is one of them.
Habitat for Humanity China needs hundreds of volunteers in October - to improve homes for disabled people in Hong Kong, the elderly in Shanghai, low-income families in Yunnan and Guangdong provinces and the Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region and to travel to Thailand, Fiji, Malaysia and Indonesia. Visit habitatchina.org.
Kester Yim is managing director of Habitat for Humanity China, which works in Guangdong, Sichuan and Yunnan Provinces, the Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, Shanghai and Hong Kong. It has built and rehabilitated over 3,700 houses, serving more than 10,100 people.
- About Us
- |
- Terms of Use
- |
-
RSS - |
- Privacy Policy
- |
- Contact Us
- |
- Shanghai Call Center: 962288
- |
- Tip-off hotline: 52920043
- 沪ICP证：沪ICP备05050403号-1
- |
- 互联网新闻信息服务许可证：31120180004
- |
- 网络视听许可证：0909346
- |
- 广播电视节目制作许可证：沪字第354号
- |
- 增值电信业务经营许可证：沪B2-20120012
Copyright © 1999- Shanghai Daily. All rights reserved.Preferably viewed with Internet Explorer 8 or newer browsers.
