More than 1,000 experts gather in three locations to tackle poverty housing in the Asia-Pacific region
5th Asia-Pacific Housing Forum begins today in Hong Kong, Delhi and Manila
Hong Kong, 2 September 2015 – As the world’s booming population continues to migrate into overcrowded cities, more than 1,000 experts from across the Asia-Pacific region have gathered to address the issue of poverty housing. Meeting for the first time in multiple locations simultaneously, the 5th Asia-Pacific Housing Forum started today with the main event in Hong Kong and satellite events in Delhi, India, and Manila, Philippines.
“While urban migration has become an unstoppable trend in the Asia-Pacific, this forum, under the theme ‘Building Impact’, will showcase best practices from the region and present solutions to tackling poverty housing,” said Rick Hathaway, Habitat for Humanity’s Vice President, Asia-Pacific.
Experts attending in the field of affordable housing range from policy-makers, entrepreneurs, businesspeople, academics and civil society players. Also scheduled to attend the gala dinner launching the event in Hong Kong is JuJu Chan, martial arts film star from Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon 2.
High profile speakers at this year’s forum from 2-4 September in Hong Kong include:
- Stanley Chan, Senior Vice President of Operations, Hong Kong Mortgage Corporation, Hong Kong
- Daniel Lam, Managing Director, Urban Renewal Authority, Hong Kong
- John Fitzgerald, Chief Executive Officer, Asia-Pacific, Urban Land Institute, Hong Kong
- Drs. Marja Hoek-Smit, Director, International Housing Finance Program, Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania, USA
- Matthias Helble, Research Fellow, Asian Development Bank Institute, Japan
- Rajesh Krishnan, Founder and CEO, Brick Eagle, India
- Jonathan Reckford, Chief Executive Officer, Habitat for Humanity, USA
“The problems of poverty housing are complex, but not hopeless. The Housing Forum is the Asia-Pacific region’s leading event for advocating for affordable housing solutions and decent shelter for low-income families. We look forward to sharing adaptable and sustainable methods to improve housing from speakers across the region,” continued Hathaway.
On 2 September, Habitat for Humanity will release an issue paper titled ‘From slums to sustainable communities: the transformative power of secure tenure’, produced in collaboration with Cities Alliance. The paper addresses how security of tenure is critical to addressing the growth of urban slums, and offers recommendations for housing policy in order to transform slums into sustainable communities.
The Asia-Pacific Housing Forum is timely, coming ahead of the Asia-Pacific Urban Forum, and Habitat III. Taking place in Ecuador next year, Habitat III is the bi-decennial United Nations Conference on Housing and Sustainable Urban Development. Habitat for Humanity has been elected to represent civil society in events leading up to, and at Habitat III, and will utilize the Asia-Pacific Housing Forum to gather input from the region.
For details of speakers and further information on the Asia-Pacific Housing Forum: aphousingforum.org.