Attachments
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
Homelessness is a global problem which has a catastrophic impact on individuals, families and communities. Global estimates of the scale of homelessness vary widely due to the challenges that we describe in this report, but if the global population of people estimated to be living on the streets or in temporary shelter were counted as a single country, they would number in the hundreds of millions - comparable in size to the United States of America.
Yet to date, homelessness has largely been missing from international development and climate agendas. There are no goals or targets for homelessness within the current Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) framework, despite evidence from multiple countries which shows that providing access to decent, safe and affordable accommodation gives people the foundation needed to start achieving in all of the other areas. Other goals - whether delivering inclusive and equitable education for all (SDG 4), ensuring healthy lives and well-being for all (SDG 3) or accessing decent work (SDG 8), to name but three - will be more difficult to achieve without a decent place to live. Homelessness is also an issue that reflects and further exacerbates structural inequities, holding back progress on gender equality (SDG 5) and reducing inequalities (SDG 10). Too often, development programmes have ignored this reality and taken a siloed approach, delivering education, health or livelihood projects without recognising that without stable housing, the benefits of these interventions cannot be sustained.
The Case for Global Action on Homelessness provides evidence on the relationship between homelessness and three global development priorities: global health, climate change and education (there are many intersections beyond these sectors which we will explore elsewhere). It finds that each of these sectors could play a key role in preventing homelessness, while people experiencing homelessness have some of the poorest health and education outcomes and they are exposed to some of the worst effects of climate change. Strategies to tackle global health and education inequalities and climate change must recognise and respond to the specific vulnerabilities of those affected by homelessness. Unless agencies leading policy and programmes in these areas target this group as vulnerable ‘key populations’, they will fail in their responsibility to ‘leave no one behind’ and miss opportunities to ensure funding and programmes have the biggest impact.
The report presents the first ever analysis of international development and philanthropic funding to tackle homelessness. It finds that homelessness is almost invisible in international development budgets. Official Development Assistance (ODA) funding that targets housing