Right to housing

Logo of the Plataforma d'Afectats per la Hipoteca, a Catalan housing rights advocacy group, which means "Stop Evictions"

The right to housing (occasionally right to shelter) is the economic, social and cultural right to adequate housing and shelter. It is recognized in some national constitutions and in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights. The right to housing is regarded as a freestanding right in the International human rights law which was clearly in the 1991 General Comment on Adequate Housing by the UN Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights. The aspect of the right to housing under ICESCR include: availability of services, infrastructure, material and facilities; legal security of tenure; habitability; accessibility; affordability; location and cultural adequacy. The UN Human Settlement Programme which promotes the right to housing in cooperation with the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Right is a reaffirmation of the 1996 Istanbul agreement and Habitat Agenda. It is known as UN-HABITAT, which is tasked with promoting housing rights through monitoring systems and awareness campaigns. At least 84 states make an explicit reference to housing rights in their constitutions.

Definition

Homeless sleeping on Paulista Avenue, São Paulo, Brazil

"Housing Is A Human Right"

The right to housing is recognized in a number of international human rights instruments. Article 25 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights recognizes the right to housing as part of the right to an adequate standard of living. It states that:

Everyone has the right to a standard of living adequate for the health and well-being of himself and of his family, including food, clothing, housing and medical care and necessary social services, and the right to security in the event of unemployment, sickness, disability, widowhood, old age or other lack of livelihood in circumstances beyond his control.

Sleeping, homeless children in early 20th-century New York City taken by Jacob Riis

Article 11(1) of the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR) also guarantees the right to housing as part of the right to an adequate standard of living. In international human rights law the right to housing is regarded as a freestanding right. This was clarified in the 1991 General Comment no 4 on Adequate Housing by the UN Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights. The general comment provides an authoritative interpretation of the right to housing in legal terms under international law.

UN Habitat

File:UN Habitat Logo Simple.svg

The simplified logo of UN Habitat

The right to adequate housing was a key issue at the 1996 Habitat meeting in Istanbul and a main theme in the Istanbul Agreement and Habitat Agenda. Paragraph 61 of the agenda identifies the steps required by governments to "promote, protect and ensure the full and progressive realisation of the right to adequate housing". The 2001 Habitat meeting, known as Istanbul +5, reaffirmed the 1996 Istanbul Agreement and Habitat Agenda and established the UN Human Settlement Programme to promote the right to housing in cooperation with the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights. Known as UN–HABITAT, the programme is the most important international forum for the right to housing. It is tasked with promoting housing rights, through awareness campaigns, and to develop benchmarks and monitoring systems.

Implementations

South Africa

One of the seven focus areas by the South African human right is The Right to Adequate House and this is beyond the mere provision of building materials. The rights such as the right to public participation, equality, human dignity, and access to information are amongst the cross cutting rights linked with right to adequate housing as noted by the Constitutional Court in Government of the Republic of South Africa and Others v Grootboom and Others 2001 (1) SA 46 (CC) In South Africa, section 26 of Chapter Two of the Constitution establishes that "everyone has the right to have access to adequate housing". The Department of Human Settlements is tasked with implementing this mandate. Based on recent data, around 3.6 million South Africans still live in shacks or informal settlements (2013 data), while it is estimated that around 200,000 are homeless or living on the streets (2015 data). Based on a survey of human rights experts administered by the Human Rights Measurement Initiative in 2019, South Africa is doing only 69.6% of what should be possible at its level of income on the right to housing.

United States

2020 protest against evictions in Minneapolis, Minnesota

Further information: Subsidized housing in the United States

Most jurisdictions in the United States have no right to shelter. One exception is Massachusetts, where families (but not homeless individuals) do have the right to shelter. In California, runaway children have the right to be admitted to emergency shelters without parental consent. New York City also recognizes a right to emergency shelter, established in the 1981 consent decree for Callahan v. Carey.

Nigeria

The right to housing is recognized in the 1999 constitution, specifically in section 43 which states that "every citizen of Nigeria shall have the right to acquire and own immovable property anywhere in Nigeria". It further stated in section 44 that 'no movable property or any interest in immovable property shall be taken possession of compulsorily and no right over or interest in any such property shall be acquired compulsorily in any part of Nigeria except in the manner and for purposes prescribed by law that, among other things: requires the prompt payment of compensation and ensures parties access to the court for the determination of his interest in the property and the amount of compensation payable". The provisions of Section 16(2)(d) of the constitution in the Fundamental Objectives and Directive Principles of State Policy, which states that "the state shall direct its policy towards ensuring that suitable and adequate shelter is provided for all citizens" implies the recognition of the need to provide shelter for citizens but such right excludes right to adequate housing. Additionally, Section 6(6) (c) of the constitution declared the Fundamental Objectives and Directive Principles non-justiciable. Based on a survey of human rights experts administered by the Human Rights Measurement Initiative in 2019, Nigeria is doing only 35.5% of what should be possible at its level of income on the right to housing.

See also

• Civil Rights Act of 1968 – U.S. legislation which includes the Fair Housing Act
• Dahiya doctrine
• Housing Benefit
• Housing estate
• Housing First
• Housing crisis
• Public housing
• Section 8
• Subsidized housing

External links

• Special Rapporteur on adequate housing as a component of the right to an adequate standard of living, UN
  • Report to UN HRC, 2008. A/HRC/7/16
  • Report to UN HRC, 2009. A/HRC/13/20
• International standards of the right to housing
• Housing Rights Legislation: Review of International and National Legal Instruments
• CESCR General comments:
  • The right to adequate housing (Art.11 (1)). CESCR General comment 4, 1991
  • The right to adequate housing (Art.11.1): forced evictions. CESCR General comment 7, 1997
• Factsheet on right to housing, UN
• CoE Commissioner for Human Rights:
  • Recommendation on the implementation of the right to housing, 2009
  • Housing Rights: The Duty to Ensure Housing for All, 2008
  • "No one should have to be homeless – adequate housing is a right", 2007
• Interpretation and application of Article 31 of RESC//Digest of the Case Law of the European Committee on Social Rights, 2008. pp. 169–173, 349—355
• Right to Housing Geneva: CETIM, 2007.
• Housing is a human right: How Finland is eradicating homelessness. Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC). Published 24 January 2020.