NEW YORK - The United States and Israel voted as a minority duo against a United Nations declaration on affordable housing, homelessness and sustainable cities on Thursday, as the resolution passed 148-2, with no abstentions following the conclusion of the General Assembly’s two-day high-level convenings reviewing global progress on urban development.
The General Assembly adoption of the Political Declaration to Renew Commitment and Accelerate the Implementation of the New Urban Agenda commits governments to expand access to adequate housing, address homelessness, upgrade informal settlements and slums, and build safer, greener and more resilient cities. It reaffirms the New Urban Agenda, a framework adopted at a UN conference in Quito in 2016, and sets a target of accelerating its implementation by 2036. Such declarations have historically passed without a recorded vote.
US OBJECTIONS
Dan Negrea, representing the United States, stated that Washington took issue with the vote with respect to the declaration's configuration of climate change and gender within the framework.
"The United States objects to the extensive and deeply flawed references to climate change woven throughout this document," Negrea said. "Urban resilience is a matter of sound infrastructure and engineering, not subservience to aggressive climate global pacts."
He said the United States also objected to "the repeated ideological insertion of the term gender and concepts like gender-responsive frameworks into what should be a practical text on municipal planning and housing."
The declaration reaffirms the Paris Agreement on climate change and endorses the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, both of which the current US administration has distanced itself from.
ISRAEL DISASSOCIATES
Israel voted against the declaration with regards to provision in Paragraph 7, which entails that special attention be given to countries and territories under foreign occupation, conflict and disaster.
Israel's representative accused the delegations behind the declaration of imposing their own political agendas and specifically objected to the provision concerning territories under foreign occupation.
"These delegations decided that pushing through their narrow political interests was a higher priority than seeing universal agreement on the development pathway ahead," the representative stated. "For this reason, Madam President, Israel will vote no against this resolution, and disassociates from paragraph seven."
THE SECRETARY-GENERAL'S RESPONSE
Stéphane Dujarric, spokesperson for UN Secretary-General, told Rudaw that the Secretary-General supported the declaration's goals but would not weigh in on the vote itself.
"The Secretary-General definitely backs the idea that we all need to have sustainable cities and affordable housing," Dujarric said. "He's not going to start to comment on the voting sheet of the resolution."
WHAT COMES NEXT
The declaration is not legally binding. It signals political commitment and sets direction, but does not compel signatories to act. Governments that opposed it, similar to those that backed it, remain free to pursue their goals through their own domestic policies.
The text reaffirms support for UN-Habitat, the Nairobi-based UN agency that serves as the focal point for sustainable urban development, and calls for predictable funding for its work amid broader financial strain across the UN system. Governments are expected to implement the commitments into national and local plans and report progress through voluntary reviews.
The next World Urban Forum is scheduled for Mexico City in 2028.
