The UNOPS Middle East Region (MR) provides strategic leadership, performance oversight, and support to UNOPS operations across Iraq, Jordan, Lebanon, Syria, Yemen, and the State of Palestine. MR is responsible for positioning UNOPS as a key development partner in the region through high-level engagement with regional bodies, UN coordination mechanisms, development banks, donors, and intergovernmental organizations. By fostering strategic partnerships and promoting operational excellence, the region supports country teams in delivering sustainable solutions to complex development, peace, and humanitarian challenges.

UN-Habitat, the United Nations Human Settlements Programme, is mandated by the UN General Assembly to promote socially and environmentally sustainable towns and cities. It is the focal point for all urbanization and human settlement matters within the UN system. The United Nations Human Settlements Programme (UN-Habitat) is the United Nations agency for human settlements. UN-Habitat’s mission is to promote transformative changes in cities and human settlements through knowledge, policy advice, technical assistance and collaborative action to leave no one and no place behind. UN-Habitat works through a medium-term strategy approach. It has recently completed the Strategic Plan 2020-2025, and started working on the Strategic Plan 2026-2029, and produced a pre-final draft in February 2025, which introduces a strategic focus for 2026-2029 on: adequate housing, land, basic services for all, including the urgent transformation of informal settlements and slums. With the aim of achieving impact on peoples’ lives, and to focus on sustainable urbanization, the new strategic plan for 2026-2029, adding value to the efforts of the United Nations and the broader multilateral system, seeks to address global challenges mirrored by three impact areas: a) equitable and inclusive prosperity for poverty eradication; b) preparedness, response, recovery and reconstruction; and c) environment and climate action.

As part of its crucial humanitarian and development work worldwide, UN-Habitat presents concrete examples of its engagement with partners working in the field of transport planning, service delivery and urban safety monitoring. Moreover, in humanitarian contexts UN-Habitat has been coordinating GIS and data-science based urban and neighborhood profiling in order to prioritize short-term humanitarian interventions and longer- term urban recovery efforts.

Through the last five years, UN-Habitat Palestine had implemented and still implementing different projects that targeted urbanization, development, and rehabilitation, with the aim to strengthen urban linkages in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, to enhance the resilience of Palestinian Communities through Spatial-Economic Planning Interventions in Area C, empower women, girls, and families in different Palestinian cities, villages and locations, to enjoy a safe, inclusive, and accessible public spaces, in addition to focusing on rehabilitation and revitalization of historical and archaeological sites in the old city of Jerusalem.

Since its establishment, UN-Habitat focused on the overarching objective: to advance sustainable urbanization as a driver of development and peace, and to improve living conditions for all. The organization implements its mandate through implementation of normative and operational work at global, regional and country levels. The Special Human Settlements Programme for the Palestinian People (SHSPPP) (UN-Habitat, Palestine) was established following the adoption of UN-Habitat Governing Council resolution 19/18 by governments in 2003. During the 23rd session of the Governing Council in 2011, a new resolution 23/2 was adopted, providing a clearer and more focused mandate for the SHSPPP, requesting UN-Habitat “to further focus its operations on planning, land and housing issues in view of improving the housing and human settlement conditions of Palestinians”. Further, during the 26th session of the Governing Council in 2017, a resolution was adopted calling UN-Habitat “to continue to focus its work where there is acute humanitarian, and development needs as identified through technical assessments by UN-Habitat”.

Within the framework of a project titled “Scaling Up Community-Driven Processes of Mapping of Land Rights and Land Use Planning in the West Bank, including Area C” funded by the European Union. It is implemented and managed by UN-Habitat in close partnership with the Ministry of Local Government (MoLG), Palestinian Local Administration (PLA). This project aims to enhance the resilience of Palestinian communities in the West Bank, particularly in Area C, by advancing planning and land rights in partnership with national and local stakeholders. It seeks to improve land tenure security through gender-responsive, community-led land settlement; enhance service provision and resilience via inclusive spatial planning; and strengthen the institutional capacities of Palestinian authorities in land governance and service delivery.

The housing sector in Palestine is a central component of the urban system, with strong linkages to land use, infrastructure, service delivery, and socio-economic stability. The sector has long faced structural challenges, including limited land availability, housing affordability constraints, and institutional and regulatory fragmentation, all of which have affected its ability to respond to growing demand and evolving development needs.

According to SDG 11 indicator 11.1.1, Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics (PCBS) reported that 19.5 per cent of the urban population in Palestine was living in slums, informal settlements, or inadequate housing, reflecting pre-existing structural challenges in access to adequate, safe, and affordable housing. Since then, and even though there is no available data yet, the situation has significantly deteriorated due to the accelerated geopolitical context and recent developments on the ground intensifying pressure on an already fragile housing sector, widening the gap between housing needs and available solutions.

Since late 2023, the housing sector in the Occupied Palestinian Territory has undergone significant and unprecedented changes. In the Gaza Strip, large-scale destruction of housing stock, widespread displacement, and disruptions to infrastructure and basic services have drastically altered housing conditions and needs. The United Nations Satellite Centre (UNOSAT) reports that approximately 81 per cent of all structures in the Gaza Strip have sustained various levels of damage resulting in a significant loss of housing stock, and placing additional pressure on already limited shelter options, while exacerbating displacement and housing insecurity. At least an estimated 1.7 million people are sheltering in approximately 1,600 displacement sites. As of 11 January 2026, a total of 283,566 shelters/tents were identified across the Gaza Strip from space imagery. Estimations show that at least 30 per cent of those shelters were potentially affected by or directly exposed to flooding and additional 14 per cent of those shelters are located close to the shoreline in areas highly exposed to sea surge risk and strong winds.

At the same time, violence and coercive policies and practices in the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, remain high, causing casualties, damage, and further displacement and raising serious protection concerns. In East Jerusalem, housing conditions are increasingly precarious, marked by a growing pattern of forced evictions and displacement of Palestinian households, particularly in areas such as Silwan. These trends, driven by legal and settlement-related pressures, are contributing to heightened housing insecurity and instability.

On 20 August 2025, the Israeli government approved the construction of over 3,400 housing units for settlers as part of the E1 settlement expansion plan. The plan entails the construction of thousands of settlement housing and commercial units, creating a continuous built-up area between Ma’ale Adumim settlement and Jerusalem which would effectively contribute to separating the northern and central West Bank from the south, would further threaten the territorial contiguity of the Occupied Palestinian Territory, and heighten the risk of forced displacement of about 18 Palestinian Bedouin communities.

In the West Bank, including its northern areas, increased demolitions, displacement, and access restrictions have further constrained housing supply and exacerbated housing insecurity. Since 2023, more than 5,600 people have been displaced across the West Bank within this context, including from 38 communities that have been completely depopulated. Displacement linked to settler violence and access restrictions continues to sharply increase. Since the beginning of the year and as of 30 March 2026, more than 1,700 Palestinians displaced of whom over two-thirds were in the Jordan Valley, surpassing the total number of people displaced witnessed in the past three years.

In this context, UN-Habitat seeks to undertake a comprehensive housing sector situational assessment, primarily based on an in-depth literature review and stakeholders’ interviews, to provide an updated and evidence-based understanding of the sector. As part of this process, the National Urban Policy (NUP), endorsed in July 2023 as a long-term strategic framework for sustainable urban development, will be selectively reviewed and updated to ensure that housing-related policy directions reflect current realities while maintaining its overarching vision.

• Develop a comprehensive situational assessment on the housing sector in Palestine, grounded in an extensive literature review and stakeholders’ interviews.

• Analyze the implications of recent war on Gaza and the escalations in the West Bank including East Jerusalem on the housing sector within a broader development context.

• Integrate housing sector priorities into the NUP in a way that supports sustainable, inclusive, and resilient urban development.

• Provide targeted and actionable recommendations to inform the development of the Housing policy for the State of Palestine.

The Consultant will undertake the following tasks:

3.1 Housing Sector Literature Review and Situational Analysis

• Conduct a comprehensive literature review of existing studies policies, strategies, and assessments related to the housing sector in Palestine.

2. Housing Sector Situation Analysis

   1. Analyze the implications of recent developments, including:

• The situation in Gaza (damage, displacement, and housing loss).

• Escalations in the West Bank including East Jerusalem and Area C (demolitions, displacement, access restrictions).

• Identify key gaps, structural challenges, and emerging trends in the housing sector.

2. Analyze gender and social inclusion trends in terms of:

• Differential access to housing for women, female-headed households, youth, persons with disabilities (PwDs), elderly, and IDPs/refugees

• Barriers related to ownership, inheritance, documentation, and tenure security

• Exposure to forced eviction, displacement, and secondary occupation

• Disparities between rural and urban areas in terms of housing affordability, access to land, availability of services, infrastructure, and connectivity to livelihoods and opportunities

• Specific constraints in Area C, East Jerusalem, and Gaza, including protection risks

3. Analyze environmental and climate dimensions of the housing sector, including:

• Housing exposure to climate and environmental risks (e.g. heat, water scarcity, environmental degradation) across different contexts (urban, rural and Area C)

• Opportunities for green and climate-responsive housing approaches, including energy efficiency, sustainable materials, and climate-adaptive design

• Mapping of existing practices, initiatives, and gaps related to green housing across different contexts (urban, rural, and Area C)

4. Develop a housing sector situational report, including:

• Housing supply and demand dynamics

• Affordability and access to housing, including disparities across different population groups and geographic contexts (urban, rural, and Area C)

• Land availability and tenure challenges, including gendered and social dimensions of ownership, inheritance, and documentation

• Institutional and regulatory frameworks, including their responsiveness to inclusion, equity, and environmental sustainability

• Role of public, private, and informal sectors

• including their responsiveness to inclusion, equity, and environmental sustainability

3. Contextual Review of the NUP

   1. Review the existing NUP (2023 version) in light of the updated housing sector analysis.

   2. Identify areas where current realities should be reflected in the policy narrative and priorities, ensuring that the NUP maintains its strategic, long-term positioning.

4. Stakeholder Consultations

   1. Conduct interviews with key experts and stakeholders from relevant institutions (including, but not limited to, the Engineering Associations) and representatives the investors in the sector to identify the gaps and key priorities

   2. Conduct structured consultations with relevant national institutions, (including but not limited to):

• Ministry of Planning and Finance

• Ministry of Public Works and Housing

• Ministry of Local Government

• Ministry of Social Development

3.4.3 Conduct a mapping with other development organizations working in the housing sector, highlighting their contributions and remaining gaps.

The consultations will aim at:

• Validating findings from the housing sector assessment

• Identifying policy priorities and institutional constraints

• Identifying existing initiatives and needs

• Strengthening alignment between housing sector needs and national strategies

3.4 Update of the National Urban Policy

Based on findings, the Consultant shall:

• Update relevant sections of the NUP, including:

• Context analysis

• Policy priorities related to housing and urban development

Ensure:

• Integration of current challenges into the policy framework

• Preservation of the long-term vision and strategic orientation of the NUP

Propose:

• Adjustments to relevant policy pillars where necessary

• Cross-cutting considerations (gender, youth, inclusion, climate resilience)

• Quick-win interventions to support the housing sector

• High-level recommendations for implementation (without duplicating existing recovery frameworks

The Consultant will work under the overall supervision of UN-Habitat Palestine and is expected to deliver the following reports (In English):

• Inception Report (within 3 working days)

• Methodology (Including literature review approach)

• Work plan

• Stakeholder engagement plan

• Stakeholder Consultation Summary Report

• Housing Sector Situational Assessment Report

• Comprehensive literature review

• Analysis of current conditions and emerging crises

• Key challenges and opportunities

• Updated NUP Document

• Revised context analysis

• Updated policy directions related to housing and other relevant sectors incorporating feedback from UN-Habitat

• Executive summary (In both languages; English and Arabic) highlighting key updates

• Presentation of the updated NUP Document in a meeting and include the feedback in the final Document

Support Duration of Assignment & Level of Effort:

The duration of the consultancy assignment will be (Three months maximum).

Required

• Advanced university degree in urban planning, public policy, housing, urban development, economics, architecture, or related field.

Required

• Minimum 10 years of professional experience in urban policy, national development planning, or post-conflict recovery frameworks.

• Demonstrated experience in housing sector analysis and policy development.

• Strong knowledge of the Palestinian governance and planning framework is highly desirable.

• Proven experience in conducting literature reviews, policy analysis and multi-stakeholder consultation processes

• UNOPS does not accept unsolicited resumes.
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