The Brussels Office of UN-Habitat was established in 2001 to foster the relationship between European Institutions, EU Member States, and UN-Habitat.
The Office focuses on conducting policy dialogues, building partnerships, and mobilizing resources for the achievement of the New Urban Agenda at the global level. The Office plays a role in assisting UN-Habitat headquarters and regional offices in identifying the priorities of European partners, developing new projects, and backstopping EU-funded programmes to ensure compliance with relevant EU regulations.
There is a very high degree of convergence between policies and priorities at the global level between the EU and the UN, and there is a mutual wish to see those policies succeed.
Since 2025, the Brussels office has supported the conception of the European Affordable Housing Plan by organizing several expert group meetings on housing indicators, data and policies, and by providing official inputs together with the UN Office for Human Rights (OHCHR).
The office also champions innovative, community-led and not-for-profit solutions to deliver adequate housing for all. In Eastern Europe, UN-Habitat is working with the Roma community to ensure non-segregated and adequate and affordable housing.
With EU funding, UN-Habitat has contributed to the implementation of the vision outlined in the European Consensus on Development, the EU’s Global Gateway Initiative and the New Urban Agenda.
The Brussels office manages small normative projects related to EU and UN policies on urban development. Since 2017, UN-Habitat has worked with DG Regio to enhance urban data and indicators work with a focus on Europe.
Country: Overview
Country: Overview
Country: Overview
Donors and partners
EU Institutions and EU Member States are among the most important donors to UN-Habitat. Between 2020 and 2025, UN-Habitat received EUR 165.8 million from the European Commission for project work. The biggest part of that funding was for projects in sub-Saharan Africa (50%), followed by the Arab States (28%), global programmes (15%), Asia-Pacific (5%) Latin America (1.5%) and Europe (0.5%) respectively. Within the European Commission, the Directorate-General for International Partnerships (DG-INTPA) was the largest contributor (85%), followed by the Directorate-General for Middle East, North Africa and the Gulf (DG-MENA) with 9%.
The main focus of EU funded project was on urban crises and displacement (40%), with a focus on housing, addressing displacement, housing, land and property rights, and access to basic urban services. These activities mainly took place in Iraq, Burkina Faso, Nigeria and Colombia.
Contributions from European Commission were complemented by EUR 153.5 million from European Member States from 2020-2025, bringing the overall contribution from Europe to EUR 319.3 million. The European Commission contributed the biggest part of European funding to UN-Habitat (52%), followed by Sweden (15%), Germany (14%), Netherlands (9%), Spain (5%), Italy (4%), and France (1%).