Prime Minister Dr. Harini Amarasuriya stated that the Government’s goal is to empower everyone to build a dignified home of their own through community participation, while the Government will provide the necessary guidance and facilities to make this possible.
The Prime Minister made these remarks while participating in the World Habitat Day 2026 commemoration held today (05 October) at Temple Trees, organised by the Ministry of Housing, Construction and Water Supply under the theme “A safer Home for All”, in parallel with the United Nations World Habitat Day programme.
At the event, the Prime Minister opened the 5,000th house completed under the housing programme launched today. The Prime Minister participated in the presentation deeds of ownership, launch of the Habitat Satisfaction Index (HSI), and presented the prizes and certificates to the winners of the essay, art, dance and short film competitions held in conjunction with World Habitat Day.
Addressing the occasion, Prime Minister Dr. Harini Amarasuriya stated:
We must all take a moment to reflect on what a home really means. A home is not merely a structure built with bricks, cement and sand. A home is a fundamental human right, a source of dignity and security, and a place where the love, unity and happiness of a family are nurtured.
Our Government is moving away from the traditional approach adopted by successive governments, where people were merely made beneficiaries through the provision of some form of assistance. The Government’s role is to provide guidance and the necessary facilities. Our objective is to empower everyone, through community participation, to build a dignified home they can call their own.
In realizing this objective, we are introducing a number of policy changes based on nine principles for our future sustainable housing policy. Accordingly, we recognise housing as a fundamental human right of every citizen and as an integral part of an entire settlement system, rather than as isolated units. We are therefore taking steps to establish an integrated administrative mechanism and to construct housing while taking into consideration both human and spatial characteristics.
Our aim is to create a housing system that leaves no citizen behind, promotes data-driven and scientific development, ensures environmental sustainability and high standards of construction, and remains economically affordable.
This year, in conjunction with World Habitat Day, we are introducing a new concept called the Habitat Satisfaction Index (HSI), covering all 25 districts, to determine how satisfied people are with the settlements in which they live.
This index will measure satisfaction based on the quality of housing, drinking water, sanitation, the environment, safety and public facilities. In addition, we have proposed the Presidential Award for the Best Settlement to recognise the best village, best urban community, best housing project and best environmentally friendly settlement.
In collaboration with the Clean Sri Lanka programme, we are introducing the Green Settlement Challenge, focusing on productive home-garden use, rainwater harvesting and household waste management. We are also launching the ‘One Million Trees for Human Settlements’ programme to plant one million trees in and around settlements. Rather than going into debt to build houses that are larger than their actual needs, we have also taken steps to promote a new attitudinal change among our younger generation through the ‘My Beautiful Little Home’ concept,.encouraging environmentally friendly homes that are appropriate for their families and for the country.
We have also launched development activities in underserved urban settlements and vocational training and employment-centre programmes for young people, designating the initiative as ‘Settlement Renaissance Day.’ Under ‘Jana Diya Sampatha’, designated as Drinking Water Renaissance Day, we have provided piped drinking water to settlements without adequate water facilities and opened a number of community water projects. We have also undertaken housing construction with community labour contributions and provided land ownership to people in lands that have been released in the Northern and Eastern Provinces.
Addressing the occasion, Minister of Housing, Construction and Water Supply Dr. Susil Ranasinghe stated:
We dream of providing a home of their own to every family in our country that does not have a home. Instead of designating just one day, we declared a Settlement Week and carried out a substantial programme of activities.
We will not allow any housing project implemented with Government assistance to be abandoned midway. Once these houses are handed over to the people, they must not be left unused or abandoned. A family must reside in every one of these houses.
Under the housing programme launched in 2026, we are working towards completing the construction of 30,000 houses.
The Government will not simply construct a house and leave it there. We will also work to ensure that all necessary facilities, including schools and healthcare services, are accessible to the residents of these housing schemes,” he said.
The event was attended by members of the Maha Sangha; Deputy Minister of Housing T.B. Sarath; Kalutara District Member of Parliament A.M.P. Dhanushka Ranganath; Secretary to the Prime Minister G. Pradeep Saputhanthri; Secretary to the Ministry of Housing, Construction and Water Supply Kumudu Lal Bogahawatta; officials of the United Nations Human Settlements Programme (UN-Habitat) Country Office; officials of the High Commission of India; government officials; beneficiaries; children and a large gathering of invitees.
