Children, Cities, and Housing Rights and Priorities

Globally, an estimated 1.6 billion people live in inadequate housing. This includes 1 billion people living in informal settlements and slums, of which approximately 350 to 500 million are children. Children living in poverty and inadequate housing are arguably one of the most vulnerable groups globally due to their multidimensional lack of dependency on others and the surrounding environment to meet their basic survival and development needs. Children with an inadequate standard of living may have their well-being, health, and education compromised and are often more vulnerable to the impacts of disasters, climate change and global pandemics. While inadequate housing exists in both urban and rural settings, research around the ‘urban advantage’ demonstrate that in many countries the most disadvantaged children in urban areas are worse off than children in rural areas. The sub-standard living conditions of these children impede their rights as enshrined in the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child and their ability to access a good standard of living necessary for their physical, mental, spiritual, moral and social development. This session will discuss the transformational impact of housing and the role of adequate housing in assuring children’s rights to an adequate standard of living.