UN Reports On Housing Policies Of Developing Countries

"A new United Nations habitat report, 'The State of the World's Cities 2006-7', praises the government for investing in electricity, water and sanitation infrastructure in the country's vast slum areas."

Authors of the report have said that many problems facing cities in developing countries link back to poverty and the vast amount of impoverished people in need of housing or land.

"According to Naglaa Arafa, programme analyst with UN Development Programme in Cairo, Egypt is home to 1,221 urban slum areas, housing between 12 and 15 million of the country's approximately 75-million citizens. While the report praises Egypt -- along with Mexico, Brazil and South Africa -- for its policies toward slum areas, Arafa noted that the government's policy has focused on providing utilities without addressing the factors that cause slum growth."