We are one human family and we have a responsibility to stand in solidarity with the poor and vulnerable if we are to fulfil God’s command: “You shall love your neighbour as yourself.
The International Day for the Eradication of Poverty (October 17), recognises that “ending poverty is inseparable from protecting human rights, human dignity and peace. Under the 2026–2028 theme “United for Peace and Human Rights,” the 2026 observance focuses on “Safe Homes for All,” highlighting adequate housing as a foundation for security, participation and a life of dignity.
“More than 2.8 billion people worldwide face some form of housing inadequacy. People already experiencing poverty and exclusion bear the greatest burden. Without a safe and stable home, access to health care, education, employment and participation in community life becomes far more difficult. Housing insecurity is not simply a question of shelter. Unsafe, unaffordable, overcrowded or insecure housing can reinforce poverty and exclusion, and undermine the enjoyment of other human rights.”
The UN calls for housing policies and systems that place human dignity, human rights and people’s needs at their centre, and for action in three key areas:
• Make safe housing a human-rights priority: Respect, protect and progressively fulfil the right to adequate housing, and give a dignified standard of living the appropriate priority in public policy and budgeting.
• Design policies with people experiencing poverty: Move beyond token consultation and involve people experiencing poverty and housing exclusion directly in the design, implementation and evaluation of housing policies, recognising them as rights- and knowledge-holders.
• Mobilise resources for safe homes for all: Strengthen public financing and other resources needed to expand access to safe, accessible and affordable housing while ensuring that no one is left behind…
“In 2026, an estimated 826 million people—around ten per cent of the world’s population—live in extreme poverty, surviving on less than $3 a day in 2021 purchasing power parity … More than 2.8 billion people worldwide face some form of housing inadequacy, making safe and adequate housing a central issue for poverty eradication and human dignity … Around the world, children are more likely to live in poverty than adults. They are also more vulnerable to its effects” (UN).
Pope Leo XIV’s apostolic exhortation, Dilexi Te (“I have loved you”), released on October 9, 2025, focuses on the issue of poverty. He says that authentic Christian faith cannot be separated from love for and solidarity with the poor, noting that “In the poor, God continues to speak to us.”
He criticises “an economy that kills”, extreme wealth imbalances, and a “bubble of comfort and luxury” enjoyed by a wealthy elite while millions suffer. He argues that poverty stems from a lack of fair distribution rather than a lack of global resources. He reminds us that poverty is multidimensional. It includes material deprivation, social exclusion, cultural impoverishment, lack of rights, and moral or spiritual struggles (which heavily impact young people). He links poverty to new industrial shifts, including the rise of artificial intelligence, urging the defence of human dignity, fair labour, and just wages.
We need the willpower, at all levels, to effect change, and must include the poor as active participants in building a more equitable/just world. It is the poor who can attest to the fact that poverty “encompasses a lack of both income and the basic capabilities to live in dignity” (UN).
How effective are T&T’s faith communities, NGOs, the Government, in seeking to empower/transform the lives of those living in poverty/on the margins? You and I can make a difference. Every small gesture of charity counts. The pursuit of justice requires us to have a preferential option for the poor, a key social justice principle. Reflect on the words of St Paul VI in his encyclical: Populorum Progressio (On the development of Peoples):
We must “abandon a mentality in which the poor—as individuals and as peoples—are considered a burden, as irksome intruders trying to consume what others have produced … The advancement of the poor constitutes a great opportunity for the moral, cultural and even economic growth of all humanity.”
Let’s speak out on behalf of those who lack basic necessities and commit to promoting integral human development—the development of each person, and of every dimension of the person. Will issues of inequity, inequality and structural injustice be addressed effectively in T&T’s upcoming budget? Nelson Mandela was right, “as long as poverty, injustice, and gross inequality persist in our world, none of us can truly rest.”
