Global Community-led Housing

This report explains how community‑led housing offers a practical and sustainable response to the global housing crisis, where many people are trapped between unaffordable private housing and insufficient public provision, while rising land values and speculative development displace communities from their homes. It shows how communities around the world are taking control by developing housing that reflects their own needs, values, and aspirations through models such as co‑operatives, Community Land Trusts, and mutual or self‑help housing initiatives. Grounded in the belief that housing is a fundamental human right, the report presents World Habitat’s Global Community‑led Housing Programme, inspired by successful international examples, as a way to support, scale, and replicate people‑led housing solutions that can deliver secure, affordable, and high‑quality homes across diverse local contexts. It focuses on the ground-breaking work happening in favelas in Rio de Janeiro, in former refugee camps in Bangladesh and in countries across Central and South-Eastern Europe.

Abstract based on original source.