ISLAMABAD: A Pakistani government program providing interest-free loans to low-income families to build homes has won a UN-Habitat award for expanding access to affordable housing, the United Nations agency said this week.

The Punjab Housing and Town Planning Agency was one of five recipients of the 2026 UN-Habitat Scroll of Honour, selected from 101 nominations across Africa, Asia, Europe and the Americas. The awards were presented during the global observance of World Habitat Day in Muscat, Oman.

Pakistan faces a significant shortage of adequate and affordable housing, part of a wider global crisis that has left up to 3.4 billion people without adequate homes, according to UN-Habitat’s 2026 World Cities Report. More than 1.1 billion people worldwide live in slums and informal settlements.

UN-Habitat recognized the Punjab agency for its Apni Chhat Apna Ghar, or “Our Roof, Our Home,” program, launched in 2024 to provide interest-free housing loans to eligible low-income families who already own small plots of land.

“Through the Apni Chhat Apna Ghar program, we are helping families across Punjab turn their dream into reality,” Punjab Chief Minister Maryam Nawaz Sharif said in a statement published by UN-Habitat. “This honor belongs to every family whose dream now has a door, a roof and a place to call home.”

Nawaz received the award at the Oman Convention and Exhibition Center in Muscat, according to the Punjab government.

Under the program, families apply digitally and loans are released in stages through the Bank of Punjab and partner microfinance institutions as construction progresses. UN-Habitat said the initiative was designed particularly to reach women-headed households, informal workers and other groups often excluded from formal housing finance.

The UN agency said the program combined public financing, digital technology and accountability mechanisms to expand access to safe and affordable housing while supporting local employment and economic activity.

The Scroll of Honour was launched in 1989 and recognizes individuals and institutions for contributions to adequate housing, sustainable urbanization and improvements in urban life. The 2026 awards were held under the theme “Adequate Housing for All.”

Other recipients this year included Housing NOW in Myanmar for work with communities affected by conflict and displacement, Tunisian innovator Abdelmalek Ghannem for developing affordable building materials from local and mining waste, an Indigenous housing initiative in Brazil and London Mayor Sadiq Khan for work on affordable and sustainable housing.

UN-Habitat Executive Director Anacláudia Rossbach said the winning initiatives showed how governments and communities could respond to a housing crisis that remains far from being resolved globally.

“Housing underpins progress across the Sustainable Development Goals, yet billions of people are still lacking a safe and affordable home,” she said.