New Urban Agenda, UN Habitat
This is a publication from Habitat III.
After the release of the Surabaya Draft of the New Urban Agenda at the third session of the Preparatory Committee for the Habitat III Conference in Surabaya, Indonesia in July 2016, the New Urban Agenda has finally been agreed on at the Habitat III Informal Intergovernmental Meeting which took place at the United Nations Headquarters in New York from 7 to 10 September 2016. The New Urban Agenda was adopted in Quito, Ecuador, in October 2016.
The following clauses relate directly to housing finance:
48. We encourage effective participation and collaboration among all relevant stakeholders, including local governments, the private sector and civil society, women, organizations representing youth, as well as those representing persons with disabilities, indigenous peoples, professionals, academic institutions, trade unions, employers’ organizations, migrant associations and cultural associations, in order to identify opportunities for urban economic development and identify and address existing and emerging challenges.
126. We recognize that the implementation of the New Urban Agenda requires an enabling environment and a wide range of means of implementation, including access to science, technology and innovation and enhanced knowledge-sharing on mutually agreed terms, as well as capacity development and mobilization of financial resources, taking into account the commitment of developed and developing countries and tapping into all available traditional and innovative sources at the global, regional, national, subnational and local levels, as well as enhanced international cooperation and partnerships among Governments at all levels, the private sector, civil society, the United Nations system and other actors, based on the principles of equality, non-discrimination, accountability, respect for human rights and solidarity, especially for those who are the poorest and most vulnerable.
139. We will support the creation of robust legal and regulatory frameworks for sustainable national and municipal borrowing, on the basis of sustainable debt management, supported by adequate revenues and capacities, by means of local creditworthiness as well as expanded sustainable municipal debt markets when appropriate. We will consider the establishment of appropriate financial intermediaries for urban financing, such as regional, national, subnational and local development funds or development banks, including pooled financing mechanisms, which can catalyse public and private, national and international financing. We will work to promote risk mitigation mechanisms such as the Multilateral Investment Guarantee Agency, while managing currency risk, to reduce the cost of capital and to stimulate the private sector and households to participate in sustainable urban development and resilience-building efforts, including access to risk transfer mechanisms.