Nigar Arpadarai: Housing crisis has also affected developed countries

The housing crisis has become a reality not only for developing countries, but also for wealthy developed countries.

Report informs that Nigar Arpadarai, COP29 High-Level Climate Champion and member of Azerbaijan's Milli Majlis, said this at an event held as part of WUF13.

The MP stressed that the current global situation is worsening.

"About 3 billion people now live in inadequate housing, and this inequality will only deepen due to rapid urbanization, conflicts and climate change. The housing crisis has become a reality not only for developing countries, but also for wealthy developed countries," she noted.

According to Arpadarai, major banks and investors are only worsening the problem by buying up property in megacities and artificially driving up prices.

"The middle class cannot afford housing on their salaries even in the world's largest capitals. We must acknowledge this fact," the MP said.

According to her, millions of families need radically different financial instruments to solve this problem.

"We need access to cheap and long-term financing," Arpadarai stressed.

The MP said the COP29 team managed to secure important steps from participants in the global process, but this is still not enough for systemic change.

"At COP29, we managed to get parties to adopt commitments, but this is clearly not enough. We need to scale these volumes up to trillions of dollars," she said.

The High-Level Champion noted that the international community must ensure that these investments reach the most vulnerable communities of the Global South.