HIC Annual Report 2023

Message from the President

Adriana Allen reflects on her four-year mandate as HIC President, emphasizing the power of collective advocacy, feminist approaches, and housing justice. She celebrates the election of new leadership and reaffirms her commitment to the Coalition’s mission.

Dear HIC Community,

As 2023 comes to an end and so does my time as our Coalition’s President, I thought much about all the things I would like to share with you, the struggles we fought together, the struggles ahead of us, the need for HIC to continue its work inspired by the values, vision and mission that brings us together. Serving as HIC President has been one of the most exciting and meaningful times of my career as an activist-academic, and I want to thank you for all the work we have done together over the course of my mandate.

After much consideration and thought, I decided to close the year with a poem written by my dear colleague Catalina Ortiz, a poem she wrote to commemorate the life of Dr Refaat Alareer. Born in Gaza in 1977, he promoted the power of storytelling as a means of resistance, and was sadly killed on 6 December 2023 in an Israeli airstrike, along with his brother, sister and her three children:

In many ways, our Coalition is poetry, something to hold to when our hearts are broken, something to invoke to distinguish us from brutality, some- thing to heal us when words are our only seeds, a collective space to ignite our fire, to soothe our souls, to harvest our hope, to spread our voice in a refusal to forget, to practice the language of liberation.

Thanks to all and each of you for an incredible journey, for coalescing together through our learning, political debates, actions and advocacy; but above all, thanks for being like poetry, a col- lective reservoir to heal, unite, resist, defy, build hope and seek justice and liberation.

Highlights from 2023

In 2023, Habitat International Coalition (HIC) advanced its mission to defend human rights related to habitat through powerful collaborations, learning spaces, and advocacy. Key milestones included the launch of the Asia Habitat Dialogues in partnership with the Working People’s Coalition, and the creation of cross-regional working groups on Land Rights and Feminist Approaches. HIC Africa also developed its first regional strategic plan, and in Latin America, over 20 social and feminist movements gathered in Buenos Aires to forge a shared agenda.

HIC elevated grassroots voices in global spaces like the UN-Habitat Assembly and the SDG Summit, while also standing in solidarity with communities facing forced evictions in Chile, Cameroon, and beyond. It supported urgent appeals and local mobilizations such as the protest against Kenya’s housing levy. Gender justice remained a key focus, with HIC organizing sessions at the UN Commission for Social Development and the Commission on the Status of Women to spotlight women’s access to housing, land, and technology.

Through co-learning spaces and a new podcast series, HIC expanded interregional exchanges on climate justice, social production of habitat, and advocacy. Campaigns across the year highlighted rural women’s land rights, sanitation justice in African cities, and calls for peace in Palestine—underscoring HIC’s commitment to collective action, equity, and the transformative power of community-led processes.

About HIC

This report provides readers with an in-depth look at our global coalition dedicated to defending habitat-related human rights through advocacy, policy influence, capacity-building, and solidarity. It highlights our efforts in housing, land, gender, and environmental justice.

HIC Members

How many new members did HIC add in 2023? Learn more about the distribution of members across regions and discover the new organizations that joined HIC in 2023

HIC Allies

HIC collaborates with a wide network of global, regional and local partners including UCLG, GPR2C, ACHR, and more. These alliances amplify HIC’s advocacy and knowledge-sharing across regions.

HIC Activities

From the Asia Habitat Dialogues to regional initiatives in Africa, Latin America, MENA, and Europe, HIC has spearheaded training, advocacy, research, and campaigns to advance housing and land rights, as well as gender and environmental justice. Explore the cross-regional, regional, and thematic activities in 2023 dedicated to realizing, implementing, and defending human rights related to habitat.

Read here the full report