World Cities Report 2026: Global Housing Crisis and India’s Urban Challenges

22 May 2026

The UN-Habitat World Cities Report 2026 warned that nearly 40% of the global population faces a severe housing crisis.

About World Cities Report

The World Cities Report is a biennial global urban assessment analysing trends, challenges and opportunities associated with urbanisation and sustainable development.
Published By: It is published by UN-Habitat.

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About UN_Habitat

Established in 1978, UN-Habitat is the United Nations program mandated to promote socially and environmentally sustainable human settlements and urban development, with its global headquarters located in Nairobi, Kenya.

Theme 2026: The theme of World Cities Report 2026 is “The Global Housing Crisis: Pathways to Action”.
The report focuses on:
- Affordable housing and urban inequality
- Climate-resilient urban infrastructure
- Informal settlements and homelessness
- Sustainable urban planning and financing
- Inclusive and resilient city governance

Key Findings of World Cities Report 2026

Housing Crisis: Around 3.4 billion people globally lack affordable, safe and adequate housing, including over 1 billion living in informal settlements.
Affordability Gap: Global price-to-income ratio increased from 9.3 (2010) to 11.2 (2023), reaching 16.8 in Central and South Asia, including India.
Rental Burden: Nearly 44% of households worldwide spend over 30% of their income on housing, indicating rising rental stress and urban inequality.
Climate Threat: Climate shocks may destroy nearly 167 million homes by 2040, while natural disasters caused economic losses worth US$280 billion in 2023.
Global Homelessness: It highlighted homelessness rates translating to 21 per 10,000 people in China, 13 per 10,000 in India, 20 per 10,000 in the United States, and 11 per 10,000 in Brazil.
Indian Urban Trends: Affordable housing in India’s eight largest cities declined from 52% of new projects (2018) to 17% (2025) due to focus on luxury housing.

Key Concerns regarding Housing in India

Urban Affordability: Cities like Mumbai and Delhi have price-to-income ratios of 14.3 and 10.1 respectively, making home ownership difficult for middle-income households.
Declining Affordable Housing: Developers increasingly prioritise high-end housing due to higher profits, reducing supply of affordable homes in major cities.
Informal Settlements: Rapid urbanisation and migration have increased slum populations with inadequate access to sanitation, drinking water and secure tenure.
Limited Housing Finance: Large sections of low-income households lack access to formal mortgage finance and depend on informal borrowing mechanisms.
Climate Vulnerability: Urban flooding, heatwaves and extreme weather events threaten housing infrastructure, especially in coastal and informal urban settlements.

Key Initiatives for Housing in India

Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana (PMAY) (2015): Launched to achieve “Housing for All” through two components—PMAY-Urban and PMAY-Gramin.
- It provides interest subsidies under the Credit Linked Subsidy Scheme (CLSS), promotes beneficiary-led house construction, and supports affordable housing for Economically Weaker Sections (EWS), Low-Income Groups (LIG), and rural households.
Affordable Rental Housing Complexes (ARHCs) (2020): Introduced under the PMAY-Urban framework to provide affordable rental accommodation for migrant workers, urban poor, students, and industrial labourers near workplaces through public-private partnerships and conversion of vacant government housing.
Smart Cities Mission (2015): Aims to develop 100 smart cities through sustainable urban planning, improved housing, ICT-based governance, integrated transport, energy-efficient infrastructure, and better quality of life for urban residents.
AMRUT (Atal Mission for Rejuvenation and Urban Transformation) (2015): Focuses on improving urban infrastructure by ensuring universal water supply, sewerage networks, urban transport, green spaces, and basic civic amenities in cities and towns.
Slum Redevelopment Initiatives: Programmes such as Ahmedabad’s Slum Networking Project promote in-situ slum upgradation, community participation, sanitation, water supply, and secure housing for slum dwellers.
State Housing Boards and Schemes: States implement subsidised housing programmes, land allocation policies, and welfare schemes for EWS and middle-income groups through state housing boards and urban development authorities.

Way Forward

Inclusive Planning: Promote mixed-income housing, transit-oriented development and equitable land-use planning to reduce urban segregation.
Affordable Finance: Expand low-interest housing loans, microfinance and rent-to-own models for economically weaker sections.
Climate Resilience: Develop disaster-resilient and energy-efficient housing with green infrastructure and sustainable construction practices.
Public-Private Partnership: Encourage collaboration among governments, private developers and community institutions for large-scale affordable housing delivery.

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Conclusion

Ensuring affordable, climate-resilient and inclusive housing is essential for achieving sustainable urbanisation and improving quality of life in rapidly growing cities.

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