Jonathan Reckford: What Would It Take to House the World?

Jonathan Reckford, CEO of Habitat for Humanity International, joins The Century of Cities as part of our special miniseries in collaboration with UN-Habitat. Building on conversations emerging from World Urban Forum 13 in Baku, Jonathan reflects on a world where rapid urbanization, climate pressures, migration, and rising construction costs have combined to create a housing crisis affecting cities across every region of the world. At the heart of the conversation is a challenge to conventional thinking: solving the housing crisis is not simply about building more homes. It is about expanding access to the systems, opportunities, and pathways that make housing possible. From informal settlements and incremental housing to land rights, finance, and market access, Jonathan explores why housing solutions must be designed around the realities of how people live, build, and improve their communities. Housing, he argues, is not simply shelter. It is a foundation for opportunity, resilience, and human flourishing. As the global community prepares for the upcoming SDG 11 Review and the United Nations General Assembly High-Level Meeting on the New Urban Agenda, conversations that began at World Urban Forum 13 will continue there. This episode is part of that broader dialogue on the future of cities.