Housing Poverty In Bangladesh

4,910 families served in FY20
4,155 people supported through incremental building
Projects: construction, renovation, WaSH, slum upgrading

Since 1999, we have worked in Bangladesh to fight housing poverty through construction, repairs and renovation.

To improve the health of families, we partnered with many local organisations to provide access to clean water, safe sanitation facilities and raise personal hygiene standards - effectively reducing the spread of diseases within communities.

Slum Housing

UNICEF estimates there are 4 million slum dwellers in Dhaka. Three in four slum households live in one room, often lacking access to clean water, safe sanitation and waste management. Slum dwellers also face eviction threats as well as disaster risks from living in low-lying areas.

Recent projects include improvements in the Beguntila slum in Dhaka through the provision of clean water supply, improved toilets, communal bath houses and training in better hygiene.

Extreme Poverty

Due to the economic fallout from the COVID-19 pandemic, Bangladesh’s poverty rate has increased from 21.6% in 2018 to 42%in 2020, a survey by Dhaka-based South Asian Network on Economic Modeling revealed.

According to government estimates in 2018, at least 1,418 people were being added to the population of Dhaka every day. People move to urban centers in search of work or after losing their homes and livelihoods following disasters fueled by climate change.

Alleviating Housing Poverty In Bangladesh

Habitat helps disaster-affected families through the distribution of emergency shelter kits and transitional housing in the initial phase and provides technical support when reconstruction takes place. Since 2007, Habitat has enabled more than 6,000 families to rebuild their homes and lives and to better prepare for future disasters.

Responding to natural disasters such as cyclones or storms has enabled us to help Bangladeshi families rebuild more resilient homes.

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Improving Living Conditions Through Housing and Sanitation

Our team in Bangladesh is working in Dhaka and Gazipur districts as well as in the north to implement integrated housing, and water, sanitation and hygiene (WaSH) projects.

In a partnership with the Korea International Cooperation Agency (KOICA), 164 low income families will receive new houses or repair their houses while 62 permanent latrines will be built and 32 tube wells will be installed. The wider community in these districts will also receive WaSH training.

Natural Disaster Relief And Preparedness

In the disaster-prone and poverty-stricken district of Satkhira in the southwest, our local operation aims to help 3,000 people protect their lives and build disaster-resilient housing to help break the cycle of poverty in Bangladesh.

Members of the community will also learn to cultivate and build with bamboo. Jersey Overseas Aid Commission is funding this project.

In urban Mymensingh, we are working with Dutch and Korean partners in separate projects to build up the local community. The partnership with Foundation Op Eigen Wieken from the Netherlands aims at promoting a healthy living environment, particularly for women, children and young girls.

We provide technical support to help female-headed households improve their housing. In the same area, a KOICA-funded multi-purpose building will serve as a community centre for social gatherings and livelihood training as well as provide classrooms and a public library. The building also comes with gender-specific public toilets and bath houses.