HLPF 2026 – Sustainable Cities and Communities - side event “The Case for Including Homelessness in Global Development Goals”
On the margins of the 2026 High-level Political Forum on Sustainable Development (HLPF), the Permanent Mission of Portugal to the United Nations co-hosted, together with the Institute of Global Homelessness (IGH), UN-Habitat, the Permanent Missions of Brazil and France, the United Nations Statistics Division and the NGO Working Group to End Homelessness a side event dedicated to the inclusion of homelessness in the Sustainable Development Goals SDGs, titled “The Case for Including Homelessness in Global Development Goals”.
The event brought together Member States, UN officials, experts and representatives with lived experience to discuss how homelessness can be better reflected in the global sustainable development framework.
The discussion highlighted homelessness as one of the most severe manifestations of poverty, inequality and social exclusion, affecting every region of the world. Participants stressed that, despite its close links to housing, health, migration, climate change and inequality, homelessness remains absent from the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), limiting global measurement, accountability and coordinated policy action.
Opening the event, UN-Habitat Executive Director Anacláudia Rossbach – in a video message, underlined that sustainable societies cannot be achieved while people continue to experience homelessness, describing it as a denial of fundamental human rights and the result of systemic policy failures rather than individual circumstances. Throughout the discussion, speakers emphasised this message and the need for integrated public policies, while ensuring that people experiencing homelessness remain at the centre of policy design and implementation.
The panel also explored the importance of improving data collection and developing internationally comparable methodologies to measure homelessness. The UN Statistics Division and Member States highlighted that stronger evidence and better data-sharing are essential for informing public policies, supporting voluntary national reviews and strengthening international cooperation. Participants recognised that a globally agreed definition of homelessness – currently under discussion on the Open-ended Intergovernmental Expert Working Group on Adequate Housing for All, could create an important opportunity to advance its inclusion in future global development frameworks.
Portugal’s intervention highlighted the importance of placing human dignity at the centre of public policy, leaving no-one behind, by investing in prevention, strengthening mental health support and promoting coordinated responses across sectors reiterating the adoption, at national level, of the Strategy for the Inclusion of Persons Experiencing Homelessness 2025–2030. The event formed part of the broader discussions taking place during the HLPF on accelerating progress towards the 2030 Agenda and SDG 11 (Sustainable Communities and Cities) that is under review this year.
