A shortage of 60 lakh houses for poor people living in urban areas poses a big challenge for Bangladesh to attain one of the targets of the Sustainable Development Goals, said Brac yesterday.

Proper housing for the poor people living in urban areas has become a prerequisite for achieving the SDGs, said the non-governmental organisation in a statement.

Yesterday, the “National Conven-tion on Housing Finance for Urban Poor” took place at the Bangabandhu International Conference Centre.

The Brac Urban Development Programme organised the event in association with the National Housing Authority (NHA), the Urban Development Directorate, the Municipal Association of Bangladesh, the Bangladesh Institute of Planners and the Brac Institute of Governance and Development.

The event was attended by about 75 mayors, including five city mayors, and officials from the United Nations Development Programme.

Speakers at the programme said more people are travelling to urban areas in search of better livelihoods every year. For example, over 5 lakh people add to the existing population of an already overcrowded Dhaka city.

“While the population of the capital city is increasing every day, one in every three of its inhabitants, who live in the slums, is deprived of basic facilities,” said the statement.

Housing Minister Mosharraf Hossain said the country loses 235 hectares of farmland every day for building residences. “It is therefore essential to have a comprehensive housing policy and planning for the whole country,” the statement quoted Hossain as saying.

He said the number of slums is growing in the cities. To solve the problem, the NHA will build 10,000 houses outside the city areas, he said.

Dhaka South City Corporation Mayor Mohammad Sayeed Khokon said rapid urbanisation coupled with wrong planning and shortage of land has posed a major challenge for building a healthy and safe housing system in Dhaka and other cities.

Housing Secretary Md Shahid Ullah Khandaker called for a coordinated plan to tackle the growing housing crisis.

Asif Saleh, senior director for strategy, communications and empowerment of Brac, said Brac has already undertaken research, piloting and other initiatives to address the housing issue of the people living in poverty.

The statement said despite an overall reduction of poverty in Bangladesh, urban poverty has seen the opposite trend.

Between 1997 and 2014, urban poverty increased by 60.43 percent.