United Nations Resolution on Homelessness

  • A United Nations General Assembly resolution is a formal expression of the opinion or will of UN organs (agencies) that provide policy recommendations, assign mandates to the UN Secretariat and the subsidiary bodies of the General Assembly, and decide on all questions regarding the UN budget. The UN Resolution on Homelessness urges member states to gather better data on homelessness and use that data to implement programs that will meaningfully address homelessness in their countries and around the world.

  • The new resolution describes global homelessness as living on the streets or other places not fit for human habitation, living in shelters or temporary housing, or living in inadequate or insecure housing. It urges member states to address the structural and circumstantial drivers of homelessness including inequalities, poverty, loss of housing and livelihood, jobs, access of affordable housing, lack of social protection, lack of access to land, credit or financing, and high costs of energy or health care, as well as lack of financial and legal literacy. Read the 2021 Resolution here.

  • As a result of the 58th Session of the UN Commission for Social Development, Member States drafted a resolution on the priority theme that was later fully adopted by the UN’s Economic and Social Council in June 2020. The resolution notes that homelessness “needs to be addressed through urgent national, multilateral and global responses”. Read the 2020 Resolution here.