Analysis of two alternative housing policies: rental and collective housing 2013, para. 32
Paragraph- Paragraph text
- Some countries have been implementing rent assistance programmes in order to address affordability problems (see A/HRC/13/20/Add.4, paras. 10 and 25). However, evidence indicates that such initiatives, in the absence of other policies regulating markets and assisting recipients of housing allowances, are not sufficient to provide adequate and affordable rental housing for low-income households. In countries in which rental supply is limited, subsidies schemes actually lead to an increase in rental prices and shortages of rental stock for low-income earners. Low income households receiving housing benefits often face difficulties in finding and keeping habitable accommodation in adequate locations with access to services, despite the extra purchasing power, owing to the low value of the benefits (given the rise in rental prices) and discrimination against vulnerable groups in the private rental market (see A/HRC/13/20/Add.4, paras. 17-26). In addition, means testing for housing benefits is often complicated, targeting is not always effective and allocation procedures encourage corruption. The tight conditioning of housing benefits on income levels has been criticized for failing to reach all beneficiaries (for example, only 40 per cent of private renters living in poverty in England are in receipt of housing benefit). Furthermore, the substantial cuts in housing benefits currently applied in various countries as part of recent austerity measures are likely to exacerbate the problem (see A/67/286, para. 32).
- Legal status
- Non-negotiated soft law
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on adequate housing as a component of the right to an adequate standard of living
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Means of adoption
- N.A.
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Poverty
- Person(s) affected
- N.A.
- Year
- 2013
- Paragraph type
- Other
- Reference
- SR Housing, Report to the UNGA (2013), A/68/289, para. 32.
- Paragraph number
- 32
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