Habitat for Humanity launched a sweeping global campaign this week, calling for coordinated action to address a housing crisis that leaves one in three people worldwide without safe, stable shelter, with Africa identified as the region where the need is most severe.
The campaign, titled “Let’s Open the Door,” was unveiled on Monday, March 23, 2026, from Atlanta, Georgia, and will unfold across more than 60 countries through community builds, pop-up public installations in 10 cities and digital storytelling. The initiative marks the organisation’s 50th anniversary and is backed by corporate partners including State Farm, Whirlpool, Lowe’s and Wells Fargo.
“Housing has been the core of Habitat’s work for 50 years,” said Jonathan Reckford, Chief Executive Officer of Habitat for Humanity International. “With the support of our partners, the Let’s Open the Door campaign will create awareness of the need to increase better access to affordable and sustainable housing, and everyone can play a part.”
The campaign arrives as urban housing deficits across Africa continue to worsen. An estimated 62 percent of urban dwellings on the continent are informal, leaving millions of families with inadequate shelter, insecure land tenure and little protection from climate shocks. Population growth is outpacing both formal housing supply and the financing mechanisms needed to support it, while mortgage markets remain inaccessible to the majority of urban residents.
Mathabo Makuta, Africa Senior Director for Programs at Habitat for Humanity, said the moment demands more than goodwill. “We need policy, finance and community action moving together in countries across Africa,” she said. “Give. Speak up. Volunteer. Together let’s open the door to brighter futures and help close the housing gap, starting in our own neighbourhoods.”
Habitat for Humanity Ghana, one of the organisation’s longest-serving national offices on the continent, is among the affiliates participating in the campaign. The organisation has operated in Ghana for decades, working alongside communities to expand access to affordable homes and is regarded as one of the preferred destinations for the organisation’s Global Village volunteer teams in Africa.
In Kenya, where the housing deficit is among the most acute in sub-Saharan Africa, Habitat’s national director Eileen Mokaya said the next half-century must be defined by scale. “Kenya’s housing deficit remains one of the deepest in Africa, but we also have some of the most innovative and community-driven solutions. Let’s Open the Door is our commitment to scaling those solutions together.”
Since its founding in 1976, Habitat for Humanity says it has helped more than 65 million people around the world build, improve or finance a place to call home. The organisation now operates in more than 70 countries, with active programmes in nine across Africa.
The campaign’s broader argument is that housing is not simply a social need but a foundation for health, education and economic growth. Advocates have long argued that treating it as such could unlock new streams of public and private financing and shift political priorities at both national and continental levels.
