Roof Over Our Heads (ROOH): Reframing Urban Poor Habitats

Session Lead:

Christine and Pauline are federation leaders based in Mukuru, Nairobi, and are closely associated with the Kenyan federation of slum dwellers and Slum Dwellers International (SDI). As active champions of the Roof Over Our Heads campaign, they work at the forefront of community organizing and advocacy for dignified housing. Their work involves mobilizing communities, building local leadership, and generating community-driven data to inform planning and policy. In their presentation, Christine and Pauline shared insights from Mukuru and Mathare, highlighting how organized slum communities in Nairobi have mapped their needs, articulated their priorities, and translated this into tangible, actionable outcomes in collaboration with city institutions.

Smruti Jukur is an urban development practitioner, trained as an Architect and Urban Planner working with SPARC for over ten years; affiliated to Slum Dwellers International (SDI), she has experience working primarily in India, also in Asia and Sub-Saharan African cities. She leads programs at SPARC-Society for the Promotion of Area Resource Centre which is an affiliate for the transnational Slum Dwellers International (SDI) network, which spans over 30 countries in Africa, Asia and Latin America.

About the session

This session explored the Roof Over Our Heads (ROOH) initiative, focusing on unlearning dominant perceptions of urban poor habitats and showcasing community-led housing models. It began with Christine and Pauline presenting key insights from Nairobi, Kenya—highlighting the challenges and priorities identified by communities there, and emphasizing the role of collective agency in shaping inclusive housing solutions.

Following this, Smruti Jukur introduced the ROOH framework, outlining its core principles, participatory processes, and the shift it calls for in policy and programmatic thinking around housing for the urban poor. A video presentation from Surat showcased community-built ROOH homes, providing a tangible example of the framework in action.

The session concluded with reflections from federation leader Bano Ansari, supported by Aryan, Sharmila, and Siddhi, who shared on-ground experiences from ROOH Labs. They spoke about lived challenges, coping mechanisms, and the power of community ownership in navigating housing vulnerabilities—bringing the conversation back to the core tenets of dignity, inclusion, and resilience.