For the first time in more than 30 years, homelessness was the main focus for the annual meeting of the UN Commission on Social Development. (Image courtesy of UN DESA)
Advocates from DePaul and the Catholic community brought homelessness to the forefront at recent meetings at United Nations Headquarters in New York City. For the first time in more than 30 years, homelessness was the main focus for the annual meeting of the UN Commission on Social Development. The Institute of Global Homelessness, housed at DePaul University, worked behind the scenes for more than two years to get homelessness onto the commission’s agenda.
The Rev. Guillermo Campuzano, C.M., (left) and Lydia Stazen attended the UN meeting earlier this month. (Image courtesy of Lydia Stazen)
"As a result of the meeting, member states drafted a resolution that has the power to shape future UN priorities," explains Lydia Stazen, director of IGH. “This resolution is a watershed moment in our advocacy to elevate homelessness into the UN ecosystem and serves as a platform for larger efforts."
The resolution recognizes the urgency of the issue of homelessness and connects it to well-established priorities, including poverty and climate changes. The draft also describes the scope of global homelessness and encourages member states to collect data in their own countries. This new focus on homelessness will play a key role in ensuring that “no one is left behind” in the final decade of the UN’s 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, Stazen explains.
During the meeting, Daniela Bas, director of the UN Department of Inclusive Social Development, recognized that “without the Institute of Global Homelessness, this year’s Commission would not have been such a success.” Behind the scenes, DePaul’s incoming vice president for mission and ministry, the Rev. Guillermo Campuzano, C.M., led the UN Working Group to End Homelessness. The Vincentian and Catholic community have been fierce advocates for homelessness to take a more prominent place on the UN’s agenda.
IGH was also able to make connections with member states about how to define and measure homelessness within their own countries. Other influential groups, including the UN Department of Economic and Social Affairs, also sought to strengthen relationships with IGH throughout the meeting.
“Our immediate goal is to solidify these developing connections and weave together a movement to include homelessness in the next set of Sustainable Development Goals after 2030,” Stazen says.
The resolution will be also be approved later this summer by UN ECOSOC and later this fall by the UN General Assembly.