Pakistan’s Punjab province has received one of the United Nations’ top housing honors for a program that has funded more than 200,000 homes.
A roof over your head is one of the most basic things a family can hope for, yet for many households in Pakistan it remains one of the hardest to achieve. Rising land prices, construction costs and limited access to financing have kept home ownership out of reach for a large share of low-income families.
A housing program in Punjab, Pakistan’s most populous province, set out to tackle that problem, and it has now earned international recognition. The Apni Chhat, Apna Ghar program has received the UN-Habitat Scroll of Honour Award 2026, one of the highest international honors linked to the United Nations Human Settlements Programme.
Punjab Chief Minister Maryam Nawaz Sharif received the award on October 5 at a World Habitat Day ceremony held at the Oman Convention and Exhibition Centre in Muscat. UN-Habitat Executive Director Anacláudia Rossbach welcomed participants at the event.
The program was one of only five recipients worldwide this year, selected from more than 150 projects. It is the first time in 19 years that Pakistan has received the Scroll of Honour, which the country last won in 2007.
Apni Chhat, Apna Ghar Program Eligibility, Interest-Free Loans and Homes Delivered
Apni Chhat, Apna Ghar, which means “my own roof, my own home,” was launched on August 21, 2024. It is run by the Punjab Housing and Town Planning Agency and aims to help low-income families in Punjab build or own their homes.
The program provides interest-free loans to eligible residents of Punjab. Applicants who own up to five marlas of land in urban areas, or up to ten marlas in rural areas, can qualify for financing to build a house on their plot.
As of September 10, 2026, more than 200,000 applicants had received interest-free loans worth a combined Rs259.68 billion, according to official figures. Around 125,000 families have already moved into homes built under the program. The provincial government has set a target of 500,000 homes over five years.
Housing remains a major challenge in Pakistan, where rapid population growth and rising construction costs have made home ownership difficult for many families. The program’s approach of offering interest-free financing to families who already own land is aimed at closing that gap.
UN-Habitat Scroll of Honour 2026 Recipients and What the Award Means for Pakistan
The Scroll of Honour recognizes individuals, governments, cities and organizations for contributions to affordable and adequate housing, sustainable urban development, better basic services and disaster recovery. Around 200 Scroll of Honour Awards have been presented over the past 37 years.
Alongside Punjab’s housing program, this year’s honorees were Htoo Weng from Myanmar, Thiago Bauermann Gubert from Brazil, Abdelmalek Ghanem from Tunisia and London Mayor Sadiq Khan.
According to UN-Habitat, the program was chosen through a competitive process based on established criteria, in recognition of its contribution to expanding access to adequate, safe and affordable housing for low-income households.
Maryam Nawaz dedicated the award to the people who have built their homes through the program. She said the initiative was giving low-income families the chance to have their own homes and had become a source of recognition for both Punjab and Pakistan.
The award brings international attention to Pakistan’s housing sector and places the Punjab program among a small group of initiatives recognized globally this year for improving access to affordable homes.
