As the world continues to urbanize, cities will grow rapidly with the number of people in need of decent housing increasing faster than ever before. To combat this growing trend, Habitat for Humanity is launching Solid Ground, a three-year global advocacy campaign focused on promoting land policies, laws and systems to improve access to adequate shelter.

Habitat's Solid Ground campaign will draw attention to the often overlooked role of land for housing. To date, 75 percent of land worldwide is not legally documented, leaving millions of people in developing countries vulnerable to eviction or displacement after a disaster. Many of these people, primarily women, lack access to property rights and in turn face barriers in finding adequate housing for themselves and their families.  

Watch this video to learn more about Habitat for Humanity's new global advocacy campaign, Solid Ground.
"Over the past 40 years, we have become a global organization capable of tackling large social issues in need of change," said Jonathan Reckford, CEO of Habitat for Humanity International. "The need for access to land is one of the largest obstacles to a world where everyone has a decent place to live. Our Solid Ground campaign will build on Habitat's past successes on the issue of land rights. Through the campaign, Habitat organizations around the world will use our collective voice to remove barriers and ensure strength, stability and self-reliance for generations to come."

Solid Ground will address access to land through four key areas: secure tenure, slum upgrading, disaster resilience and gender equality.

Habitat organizations will influence land policies and systems in Australia, Brazil, Bulgaria, Cambodia, Dominican Republic, Honduras, Kenya, South Africa, with a growing list of countries. In collaboration with global partners, Habitat will work at all levels of government to motivate lawmakers around the world to make land access a priority.