Thailand Wins Asian Community Housing Award, Aims for Nationwide Secure Cities

Deputy Prime Minister Yotsakorn Wongsawat expressed pride as Thailand won an award for outstanding community housing in Asia, stating it helps alleviate poverty, reduce inequality, and resolve conflicts. He aims to integrate innovation to expand success from "secure homes" to "secure cities." On October 26, 2026, at Government House, Yotsakorn, also Minister of Higher Education, Science, Research and Innovation, presided over the Collective Housing Best Practices Forum & Collective Housing Award 2026. The event celebrated World Habitat Day and honored 87 model projects from across Asia that demonstrate tangible community-led housing management. Attendees included Social Development and Human Security Minister Nikor Somklang, ministry executives, government agencies, civil society, academics, and community leaders from 15 countries, totaling over 250 participants. Yotsakorn delivered a keynote on "Collective Housing Innovation for Asia's Future," congratulating awardees and noting the projects' continuous, sustainable problem-solving. Over one billion people globally still live in overcrowded, informal settlements amid Asia's economic, social, and environmental urban crises. Housing insecurity and lack of cross-sector cooperation are root causes of poverty, requiring structural innovation and paradigm shifts. Yotsakorn called it a great honor that multiple Asian nations — India, Bangladesh, Philippines, Indonesia, Sri Lanka, Malaysia, Japan, and Thailand — received awards, with UN-Habitat recognizing Thailand as a regional leader and learning hub to elevate local pilots into mainstream regional policy. The government welcomes collaboration with the UN, shifting the state's role from "housing provider" to "enabler" so communities own the process through participatory design with community architects and experts, alongside livelihood design. "Housing development and job creation must go hand in hand, with citizens as the main driving force and tri-sector cooperation among government, community organizations, and academia to bring appropriate science, technology, and innovation from university and research networks to upgrade local enterprises for productivity and stable household income," Yotsakorn said. He added that social financial innovation — blended finance and revolving funds — is another key mechanism.