UN Says Iraq May Face Housing Crisis

1 October 2004 (RFE/RL) -- A UN conference on reconstruction says Iraq may face a housing crisis of "catastrophic proportions" unless international aid arrives soon.

The announcement came in a statement issued today at the end of the three-day conference organized by the UN-Habitat program in Amman.

Saad al-Zoubeidi, an adviser for the Iraqi Housing and Reconstruction Ministry, said his country urgently needs 1.5 million new homes but lacks the funds to build them.

UN-Habitat deals mainly with problems of rapid urbanization and the poverty often associated with it.

(AFP)