Today - a billion people live in slums without shelter, clean water or sanitation.

Today is also World Habitat Day.

Below, an excerpt from a speech that Habitat for Humanity’s CEO Jonathan Reckford gave to the United Nations Human Settlements Program.

“On this World Habitat Day 2007, we call on all individuals, organizations and governments to take a stand…to say YES, we CAN, as a caring global community, slam the door on poverty housing.

I am pleased that UN-HABITAT and Habitat for Humanity were the first signatories to a World Habitat Day 2007 proclamation that unites organizations around the cause of housing. If I may, I would like to close by voicing that proclamation.

For the first time in history, over half of humanity is living in cities and towns. Since time immemorial, cities have been centers of cultural and economic vitality. But today, one-third of the urban population—a staggering 1 billion people—lives in slums without adequate shelter, clean water or sanitation. If we factor in the condition of human settlements in rural areas worldwide, more than 1.6 billion people suffer some form of shelter deprivation.

As a direct result each year, up to 10 million people die from preventable diseases. Infants die. Children suffer at school. Parents cannot make ends meet. Families are robbed of the dignity every human being deserves. Yet too often their suffering goes unseen, their voices unheard.

On the occasion of World Habitat Day 2007, we declare that the lack of decent, affordable housing is unacceptable. Durable, affordable housing can and should be made a priority everywhere. We call upon the citizens of our global village to take a stand against substandard shelter in our communities, in our countries, and in our world. Together we can slam the door on poverty housing and open the door to a world in which everyone enjoys the stability, the security and the dignity of a decent, affordable home.”

Read the full speech below.

World Habitat Day
UN-HABITAT speech
Oct. 1, 2007
Jonathan T.M. Reckford
Chief Executive Officer
Habitat for Humanity International

“¿Por que esta aqui?”

Distinguished leaders, delegates and guests … good morning. It is an honor to be with you today.

On this World Habitat Day 2007, I awoke between clean sheets, in a comfortable bed, in a climate-controlled room. Clean water for drinking and bathing was a given; freshly laundered clothes were hanging in my closet; a hot breakfast was mine for the asking.
Your experience this morning probably was similar. But we are minority stakeholders in the global village.
In great contrast to our mornings, this World Habitat Day 2007 found:

-1.6 billion people around the globe waking up in unhealthy housing.
-More than 1 billion of them lacked access to safe drinking water.

When they started this new day…

-40 percent of people worldwide lacked access to even a simple pit latrine, and
-80 percent of the world’s people had no title to their land … or to the houses they’re living in.

And that’s those who have shelter. Today, on World Habitat Day 2007, some 100 million people—men, women and little children—are homeless right now.

Even more shameful at the start of the 21st Century is that preventable diseases–as a direct result of not having adequate shelter, safe water and sanitation—are killing up to 10 million people a year.

Habitat for Humanity International and its supporters around the world join the United Nations and UN-Habitat in believing that the grim reality these statistics depict is entirely unacceptable—and we join in committing ourselves to housing solutions that serve families far too often ignored in rapidly growing urban slums and impoverished rural areas of virtually every nation on earth.

Each time we choose not to see those families–by turning our heads or by detouring around squalor that might challenge our own lifestyles–we not only rob those families of hope. We rob entire settlements, entire communities, even entire countries, of the contributions members of those families might make if freed from the crushing burdens imposed by poverty housing.
That is the belief that drives the work of Habitat for Humanity—that when families have decent housing they can afford and where they feel secure, all other sorts of challenges become more manageable. Our mission is straightforward: to make simple, decent, self-help housing available to those otherwise unable to afford it. Studies demonstrate indisputably the benefits of homeownership: increased household wealth, improved physical and mental health, better cognitive achievement in children, and residents more active in their communities.

Throughout its 31- year history, Habitat for Humanity has built or renovated nearly 250,000 housing units, providing decent, affordable shelter for well over 1 million people. Today, each day, Habitat for Humanity is providing housing solutions for about 100 additional families around the globe. But we realize that is not nearly enough. We are committed to exponentially increasing that number, to working with like-minded partners to reach scale, and to aggressively advocating for policy change that enhances housing conditions throughout our nations and world.

In short, we see poverty housing as an issue that deserves to be taken personally. That is addressed in Habitat for Humanity’s ultimate goal statement, which challenges us to put shelter on the hearts and minds of people everywhere in such a powerful way that poverty housing and homelessness become socially, politically and religiously unacceptable in our nations and world. It is addressed in our daily work, in how we choose to spend our time. I can’t spend nearly as much time as I might like actually building homes, but there is tremendous meaning for me when I can.

“Por que esta acqui?” “Why are you here?”

The question came to me from a 15-year-old girl named Haylim as we worked alongside one another building a home that she and her mother would occupy in the village of Amecameca, outside Mexico City. They had been sharing a two-room house with another family of five and now were within weeks of having their own home. I had answered that question many times conceptually. But it was different trying to explain to a young girl why I was hundreds of miles from my home helping her to have a home.

After a few moments, I told Haylim that I was there for three reasons: First, because I believe that we are all one in God’s eyes. Second, because I believe that everyone should have the opportunity to live in a safe, decent, affordable home. And third, because every time I have the privilege of working alongside someone like her, it gives me a glimpse of the kind of communities we are called to create.

We do what we do because housing matters, because lives are at stake. We see doing all that we can to end poverty housing as a matter of mercy; as a matter of justice; as a matter of humility. For me, it is a matter of living out the challenge of the prophet Micah, as presented in Micah 6:6-8.

“He has showed you, O man, what is good.
“And what does the Lord require of you?
“To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God.”

That is what compels me to focus on housing. And it is what so excites me about the U.N.’s theme for this World Habitat Day 2007: A safe city is a just city. We will not, and cannot, have a truly just world until all people have a safe and secure place to begin their lives, and to begin each day.

Throughout the world, Habitat for Humanity is working to remove barriers that prevent access to decent housing. In some regions, that means working with small savings groups of women determined to build a better future for their families; in some areas, it means working with those orphaned or made vulnerable by the AIDS epidemic; in others, it means slum upgrading; in some areas, it means opening building centers where families have access to affordable building supplies and to training that teaches them how to build or improve homes; in still others, it means opening doors to microfinance opportunities that will allow families to address their housing situations.

Here, in the United States, in addition to our house-building activities in thousands of communities, Habitat for Humanity is particularly focused right now in our support of, and raising additional support for, the GROWTH Act—the Global Resources and Opportunities for Women to Thrive Act. In fact, we are launching a new campaign today on World Habitat Day to rally backing for that important legislation. The GROWTH Act, which seeks to alter U.S. foreign assistance and trade programs to prioritize economic opportunities for women living in poverty worldwide, has four key components, among them enhancing women’s property rights.

The property rights component is at the core of our campaign. We know all too well the threats to women without property rights. They are at greater risk of homelessness and violence, have limited access to credit, and are dependent on their husbands for survival. Too often, we see the plight of a woman who has lived in the same house, in the same village, for most of her life. Then her husband dies—and his family tells her she has to find another home. That’s all too common in countries where women don’t have the legal right to own property—or where that right is routinely ignored.

This must change. Passage of the GROWTH Act would be a significant step.

Habitat for Humanity’s area offices, branch offices, national organizations and other affiliated organizations throughout the world examine their own local and national policies to determine how they can be enhanced or changed to provide increased access to affordable housing, and thus improve the lives of low-income people wherever they live. We will keep building and improving houses; we will continue pioneering new ways to make durable, affordable shelter available; we will persist in advocating on behalf of those in need of decent shelter; we will continue promoting transformational and sustainable community development; and we will continue working in partnership with organizations that share the belief that safe cities are just cities, that a safe world is a just world.

On this World Habitat Day 2007, we call on all individuals, organizations and governments to take a stand … to say YES, we CAN, as a caring global community, slam the door on poverty housing.
I am pleased that UN-HABITAT and Habitat for Humanity were the first signatories to a World Habitat Day 2007 proclamation that unites organizations around the cause of housing. If I may, I would like to close by voicing that proclamation.

For the first time in history, over half of humanity is living in cities and towns. Since time immemorial, cities have been centers of cultural and economic vitality. But today, one-third of the urban population—a staggering 1 billion people—lives in slums without adequate shelter, clean water or sanitation. If we
factor in the condition of human settlements in rural areas worldwide, more than 1.6 billion people suffer some form of shelter deprivation.

As a direct result each year, up to 10 million people die from preventable diseases. Infants die. Children suffer at school. Parents cannot make ends meet. Families are robbed of the dignity every human being deserves. Yet too often their suffering goes unseen, their voices unheard.

On the occasion of World Habitat Day 2007, we declare that the lack of decent, affordable housing is unacceptable. Durable, affordable housing can and should be made a priority everywhere. We call upon the citizens of our global village to take a stand against substandard shelter in our communities, in our countries, and in our world. Together we can slam the door on poverty housing and open the door to a world in which everyone enjoys the stability, the security and the dignity of a decent, affordable home.
Thank you for your kind attention this morning. May God bless us all in our work on behalf of families desperate for decent places to call home.

This entry was posted on Monday, October 1st, 2007 at 12:45 pm and is filed under Housing, Habitat for Humanity. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.