In the year 1985, the United Nations at a General Assembly declared the first Monday of October every year as the World Habitat Day. The idea is to reflect on the state of our towns and cities and basic right of all to have some sort of shelter for habitable living and also to convey a strong message to all Countries regarding its collective responsibility for the future living of the human habitat.

Every year, World Habitat Day is celebrated in a host city, where members of the United Nations give speeches and presentations reflecting and highlighting the issues faced by people across the World.  In general, it is focused on urban areas and the homeless.  The purpose of commemorating  this day is also to recognize the basic rights of all humanity to have adequate shelter and to encourage grassroot level action towards ending poverty in housing.

Every year, there is a theme for the World Habitat Day and for the first time, in the year 1986, it was hosted in the city of Nairobi – Kenya with the theme “Shelter Is My Right”  In 1987, the theme was “Shelter And Urbanization” and  hosted in the city of New York.  In 1990, it was hosted in London with the theme “Future Cities”.  In 1998, Dubai hosted the event with the theme “Women In Urban Governance”. The city Surabaya - Indonesia hosted the event in 2020 with the  theme “Housing For All – A Better Urban Future”.  Last year (2022), it was hosted in Istanbul - Turkey with the theme “Mind The Gap – Leave No One and No place Behind”.

Many activities across the World are organized to examine and investigate the problems of rapid urbanization and its impact on the environment and human poverty.  Certain years, different logos have been designed in connection with the World Habitat Day.

The World Habitat Day for 2023 will be held on 2^nd October with the collaboration of the United Nations in Azerbaijan – city of Baku with the theme “Resilient Urban Economies – Cities as Drivers of Growth & Recovery” .

In Sri Lanka, to commemorate the World Habitat Day, the Urban Development Authority and the Condominium Management Authority organize various activities, celebrations and programmes.

At present, the Condominium Developers Association of Sri Lanka (CDASL) has a membership of thirty Condominium Development Companies who have completed approximately five thousand condominium projects.  The member Companies of the CDASL have also done housing projects for different social backgrounds such as cluster home housing projects, planned unit development projects, single stand housing projects, villa projects and retirement housing projects.

Currently, the Condominium Developers Association of Sri Lanka is closely working with the Ministry of Urban Development & Housing, Urban Development Authority  and the Condominium Management Authority to provide more and more shelter for the people in need in our Country.