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Analysis of two alternative housing policies: rental and collective housing 2013, para. 7
- Paragraph text
- In her previous report, the Special Rapporteur analysed the main housing finance policies implemented as a means of facilitating access of the poorest to homeownership. The sections below summarize the main findings with regard to the impact of those approaches on the right to adequate housing of those living in poverty.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on adequate housing as a component of the right to an adequate standard of living
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Poverty
- Social & Cultural Rights
- Person(s) affected
- All
- Year
- 2013
Paragraph
Analysis of two alternative housing policies: rental and collective housing 2013, para. 16
- Paragraph text
- Pursuant to articles 2 and 11 of the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, and from a human rights perspective, Governments are required to make effective use of their available resources to ensure the enjoyment of the right to adequate housing, including by prioritizing the poorest. That obligation implies more than a roof since the right to housing entails access to an array of services and facilities that guarantee an adequate standard of living. Capital-grant subsidies have had a narrow focus on reducing only the quantitative deficits of houses without adequately incorporating a human rights view. In that sense, they have failed to address broader aspects of habitability, location, availability of services and infrastructure and non-discrimination. As one commentator observed, the new stock of subsidized housing often created a greater housing problem: "the problem of those 'with roofs'".
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on adequate housing as a component of the right to an adequate standard of living
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Social & Cultural Rights
- Person(s) affected
- All
- Year
- 2013
Paragraph
Analysis of two alternative housing policies: rental and collective housing 2013, para. 19
- Paragraph text
- The small scale and the nature of most housing microfinance programmes, in particular their focus on profitability, prevent them from addressing other central aspects of the right to adequate housing - tenure security, location, infrastructure and the availability of services.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on adequate housing as a component of the right to an adequate standard of living
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Social & Cultural Rights
- Person(s) affected
- All
- Year
- 2013
Paragraph
Analysis of two alternative housing policies: rental and collective housing 2013, para. 20
- Paragraph text
- Housing finance policies based on credit for homeownership are inherently discriminatory against lower-income households and, at their best, promote affordable access for upper- and middle-income groups. Housing finance policies often "redline" the poor, who are required to pay much higher prices for financial services, exposing them to financial risks and indebtedness. At the same time, housing finance policies tend to focus solely on access to a roof while failing to effectively and comprehensively address the various elements of the right to adequate housing: location, access to infrastructure and services, habitability, cultural adequacy and security of tenure. At the macro level, the disproportionate use of such policies has contributed to price volatility and to the ongoing housing affordability and availability crises.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on adequate housing as a component of the right to an adequate standard of living
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Economic Rights
- Equality & Inclusion
- Poverty
- Person(s) affected
- All
- Year
- 2013
Paragraph
Analysis of two alternative housing policies: rental and collective housing 2013, para. 27
- Paragraph text
- The access of poor households to rental housing is currently impeded by costs, mainly as a result of rising rent prices and a shortage of affordable rental housing. More and more households in Europe are facing difficulties in paying the rent (3.8 per cent of Europeans, and 8.6 per cent of those with income below 60 per cent of the median national income). Rent affordability issues are more widespread in developing countries where rental housing is even less available. The rent-to-income ratio for African cities is more than twice that of cities in high-income countries at 39.5 per cent of income.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on adequate housing as a component of the right to an adequate standard of living
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Economic Rights
- Equality & Inclusion
- Poverty
- Social & Cultural Rights
- Person(s) affected
- All
- Year
- 2013
Paragraph
Analysis of two alternative housing policies: rental and collective housing 2013, para. 38
- Paragraph text
- Although States do not have the obligation to directly provide adequate housing to all, they have the obligation to protect against abuses of human rights by third parties and to adopt the necessary measures to enable and assist individuals in enjoying their human rights. When housing provision is transferred to third parties (the private rental market), the State should regulate the market in order to protect against human rights abuses (such as forced evictions or economic eviction and rental price "bubbles") and to create an enabling environment for the realization of the right to adequate housing, with particular focus on the poorest and most marginalized. As indicated by the Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights in paras. 8 (c) and 17 of its General Comment No. 4, tenants should be protected by appropriate means against unreasonable rent levels or rent increases.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on adequate housing as a component of the right to an adequate standard of living
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Social & Cultural Rights
- Person(s) affected
- All
- Year
- 2013
Paragraph
Analysis of two alternative housing policies: rental and collective housing 2013, para. 44
- Paragraph text
- Adequate housing must be in a location that allows access to employment options and public services. This is particularly relevant to poor households since the financial costs of travelling to work can place excessive demands upon already limited budgets. With the support of State intervention, through rent subsidies to low-income households, the provision of State land to low-income rental and other measures, a private rental sector has the potential to promote access to better located, adequate housing for low-income households in urban settings.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on adequate housing as a component of the right to an adequate standard of living
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Poverty
- Person(s) affected
- All
- Year
- 2013
Paragraph
Analysis of two alternative housing policies: rental and collective housing 2013, para. 45
- Paragraph text
- For low-income households, ensuring a high degree of security of tenure in the private rental market is of the utmost importance since poor tenants cannot afford the costs associated with a change of dwelling or with challenging evictions and cannot compete in a completely unregulated private rental market (even when receiving housing benefits). It is therefore also necessary to ensure that regulation and accountability are respected in order to prevent economic de facto evictions and to enable low-income households to access affordable rental housing in urban areas that are well located.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on adequate housing as a component of the right to an adequate standard of living
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Economic Rights
- Social & Cultural Rights
- Person(s) affected
- All
- Year
- 2013
Paragraph
Analysis of two alternative housing policies: rental and collective housing 2013, para. 46
- Paragraph text
- Evidence indicates that both demand- and supply-side subsidies for the private rental sector are more cost effective and less costly then subsidies for homeownership and are therefore more compatible with the obligation of States to make use of the maximum available resources in order to ensure the progressive realization of the right to adequate housing. A regulated and effective housing benefit system is necessary to ensure various aspects of the right to adequate housing, including affordability, non-discrimination and habitability, while also enhancing the opportunities for individuals to exercise a number of other human rights, including the right to work, the right to education and the right to health. In addition, the private (formal and informal) rental sector is better targeted to lower-income households (compared with housing finance schemes that mainly assist middle-income households) and therefore may assist States in complying with the obligation to give due priority to social groups living in unfavourable conditions. Policies and legislation should correspondingly not be designed to benefit already advantaged social groups at the expense of others.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on adequate housing as a component of the right to an adequate standard of living
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Social & Cultural Rights
- Person(s) affected
- All
- Year
- 2013
Paragraph
Analysis of two alternative housing policies: rental and collective housing 2013, para. 63
- Paragraph text
- The cases of community land trusts, cooperatives and community funds demonstrate the capacity of collective organizations to tailor housing solutions that adequately address security of tenure, affordability, location and availability of services and infrastructure in urban settings for low-income households.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on adequate housing as a component of the right to an adequate standard of living
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Economic Rights
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Person(s) affected
- All
- Year
- 2013
Paragraph
Analysis of two alternative housing policies: rental and collective housing 2013, para. 65
- Paragraph text
- Both cooperatives and community land trusts also promote affordable housing for the poor by taking on responsibility for the maintenance and rehabilitation of communal housing space, which is a heavy cost for the poor. By locking land and housing values, community land trusts and cooperatives also contribute to the overall stability of land market and housing affordability. Finally, the leverage of the community greatly enhances the ability of low-income household members to access housing that is well located in urban areas and to ensure security of tenure in these locations.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on adequate housing as a component of the right to an adequate standard of living
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Economic Rights
- Social & Cultural Rights
- Person(s) affected
- All
- Year
- 2013
Paragraph
Analysis of two alternative housing policies: rental and collective housing 2013, para. 66
- Paragraph text
- Collective forms of tenure clearly represent an effective form of self-help that may assist in the progressive realization of the right to adequate housing. In accordance with paragraphs 10 and 11 of General Comment No. 4 of the Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, States have an obligation to facilitate the activity of such mechanisms for housing production and allocation, particularly when evidence indicates that they can promote access to adequate housing for marginalized groups that would otherwise be excluded from the housing market. However, despite these clear advantages, to date collective tenure remains at a limited scale, mainly as a result of the lack of supportive legal, financial and institutional frameworks in most countries. Although community structures need a certain degree of autonomy in order to regulate the relationship between the members and the organization and preserve their decision-making autonomy, they also require supportive legal and institutional structures in order to enable their functioning. For example, the legal recognition of collective tenure is essential, as well as the possibility of taking on collective loans. In that context, it is crucial that the State provide urban land that is well located, in particular in densely populated urban settings, in order to support the ability of collective housing organizations to compete in the land market.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on adequate housing as a component of the right to an adequate standard of living
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Civil & Political Rights
- Economic Rights
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Social & Cultural Rights
- Person(s) affected
- All
- Year
- 2013
Paragraph
Analysis of two alternative housing policies: rental and collective housing 2013, para. 67
- Paragraph text
- Housing policies have increasingly been reduced to housing finance systems to promote homeownership. Evidence indicates that housing policies based exclusively on facilitating access to credit for homeownership are incompatible with the full realization of the right to adequate housing for low-income households, as they fail to supply habitable and affordable housing to the poor that is secure and well located.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on adequate housing as a component of the right to an adequate standard of living
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Economic Rights
- Equality & Inclusion
- Poverty
- Social & Cultural Rights
- Person(s) affected
- All
- Year
- 2013
Paragraph
Centrality of the right to adequate housing for the development and implementation of the New Urban Agenda to be adopted at Habitat III in October 2016 2015, para. 11
- Paragraph text
- Achieving the objectives of Habitat III will rely on the unique ability of human rights to effect transformative change through the application of universal norms and guiding principles to specific contexts and in response to emerging challenges. This essentially describes the key features and benefits of a human rights approach. Human rights can effect the kind of spatial, geographic, social and attitudinal change required to address the structural causes of exclusion and inequality, so that cities become places of opportunity and well-being for everyone - where adequate housing, food, water and sanitation, education, employment and health are realized as fundamental rights.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on adequate housing as a component of the right to an adequate standard of living
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Social & Cultural Rights
- Water & Sanitation
- Person(s) affected
- All
- N.A.
- Year
- 2015
Paragraph
Centrality of the right to adequate housing for the development and implementation of the New Urban Agenda to be adopted at Habitat III in October 2016 2015, para. 12
- Paragraph text
- The right to adequate housing and other related rights must sit at the centre of an agenda for cities. Housing is a cornerstone right, indivisible from all other rights and fundamental to an approach that begins with the dignity, equality and security of the human person. Narrow interpretations that focus on housing as a commodity or housing that provides a roof over one's head have been rejected under international human rights law. Rather, the right to housing has long been understood as the right to live somewhere in peace, security and dignity. The right to adequate housing and to non-discrimination are themselves transformational, creating not only goals for which to strive but also a framework of action and accountability through which the goals can be realized.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on adequate housing as a component of the right to an adequate standard of living
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Social & Cultural Rights
- Person(s) affected
- All
- Year
- 2015
Paragraph
Centrality of the right to adequate housing for the development and implementation of the New Urban Agenda to be adopted at Habitat III in October 2016 2015, para. 13
- Paragraph text
- Twenty years ago, the Habitat Agenda adopted by the second United Nations Conference on Human Settlements (Habitat II) clearly articulated a commitment to "the full and progressive realization of the right to adequate housing, as provided for in international instruments". The implementation of the Habitat Agenda, however, has not fully embraced human rights. Escalating homelessness in many regions, the continuation of forced evictions with impunity around the globe and the growth of informal settlements without adequate services suggest that the right to adequate housing has not been prioritized in the way that would have been required for effective implementation.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on adequate housing as a component of the right to an adequate standard of living
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Environment
- Social & Cultural Rights
- Person(s) affected
- All
- Year
- 2015
Paragraph
Centrality of the right to adequate housing for the development and implementation of the New Urban Agenda to be adopted at Habitat III in October 2016 2015, para. 14
- Paragraph text
- Housing is a major component of any city. However, it seems to have largely fallen off the public policy agenda. At the international level, for example, the right to adequate housing has not been a focus of development goals. Also, the lending priorities within the World Bank have shifted dramatically away from low-income housing, even as the problems of inadequate housing and homelessness have become more widespread and severe. In the mid-1970s to the mid-1980s more than 90 per cent of total shelter lending was allocated to low-income housing, compared to about 10 per cent since the mid-1990s. Moreover, a much smaller share has gone to low-income countries (20 per cent, down from about 40 per cent from the mid 1970s to the mid-1980s). In short, there is little evidence of the commitment to the realization of the right to adequate housing that was articulated in the Habitat Agenda. What went wrong and how can we ensure that a similar commitment made in 2016 is more successfully implemented?
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on adequate housing as a component of the right to an adequate standard of living
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Person(s) affected
- All
- Year
- 2015
Paragraph
Centrality of the right to adequate housing for the development and implementation of the New Urban Agenda to be adopted at Habitat III in October 2016 2015, para. 16
- Paragraph text
- A second factor is the evolving understanding of the meaning of the right to housing. Twenty years ago, the idea of the right to housing as a "lever of transformational change" was far less sophisticated than today. Up until the 1990s, both internationally and nationally, the fulfilment of the right to adequate housing was generally conceived of as an aspirational goal of Governments. By the end of the millennium, however, the "second generation" status of economic, social and cultural rights had eroded, and the right to housing was understood as having the capacity to empower rights holders to become active participants in decision-making, challenge stigmatization and exclusion and provide access to justice and effective remedies. It was also understood that States can be held accountable for measures taken to progressively realize the right to housing, including through the adoption of housing strategies and appropriate budgetary allocations. Such measures must be assessed for compliance with human rights and engage with international, national, subnational and local initiatives and strategies.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on adequate housing as a component of the right to an adequate standard of living
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Social & Cultural Rights
- Person(s) affected
- All
- Year
- 2015
Paragraph
Centrality of the right to adequate housing for the development and implementation of the New Urban Agenda to be adopted at Habitat III in October 2016 2015, para. 17
- Paragraph text
- These historic developments have fundamentally changed the approach to realizing the right to adequate housing from an aspirational model focused exclusively on commitments by national-level Governments to a more dynamic understanding of the role rights claimants and social movements must play in combination with all levels of governments and non-governmental actors in the realization of the right to adequate housing. This is reflected in the fact that a growing number of countries have given constitutional recognition to the right to adequate housing, domestic courts have increasingly adjudicated claims to the right to adequate housing, and the Optional Protocol to the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (General Assembly resolution 63/117, annex) has entered in force, creating an individual complaints procedure. This shift in approach to the right to adequate housing, however, has not yet fully taken root at the local level, where key actors are less aware of international and constitutional norms and where access to justice is often lacking.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on adequate housing as a component of the right to an adequate standard of living
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Social & Cultural Rights
- Person(s) affected
- All
- Year
- 2015
Paragraph
Centrality of the right to adequate housing for the development and implementation of the New Urban Agenda to be adopted at Habitat III in October 2016 2015, para. 18
- Paragraph text
- The challenge of Habitat III is to ground a new urban agenda in an updated and more dynamic understanding of how the right to adequate housing can ground a transformational process of realizing the goals of inclusive sustainable cities in which everyone has access to adequate housing. The new urban agenda is the right space at the right time to embrace and articulate a new human rights framework for cities: an urban rights agenda. And within this human rights framework, the right to adequate housing and associated obligations of all relevant actors must be clearly articulated and firmly rooted.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on adequate housing as a component of the right to an adequate standard of living
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Social & Cultural Rights
- Person(s) affected
- All
- Year
- 2015
Paragraph
Centrality of the right to adequate housing for the development and implementation of the New Urban Agenda to be adopted at Habitat III in October 2016 2015, para. 19
- Paragraph text
- Incorporating the right to housing as a pillar in a new urban agenda will have important ramifications. The right to housing is the right to a home that is secure and connected to services, employment opportunities and urban life. Beyond walls and a roof, it requires individuals and households to have access to water, sanitation, electricity, schools, health care and other services, such as waste management, roads, sewage systems and access to transportation.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on adequate housing as a component of the right to an adequate standard of living
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Economic Rights
- Equality & Inclusion
- Social & Cultural Rights
- Water & Sanitation
- Person(s) affected
- All
- Year
- 2015
Paragraph
Centrality of the right to adequate housing for the development and implementation of the New Urban Agenda to be adopted at Habitat III in October 2016 2015, para. 20
- Paragraph text
- The right to housing demands a people-centred approach. It takes as its starting point the capacities of those who are homeless or living in inadequate housing to become both central agents and prioritized stakeholders of housing policy and programmes. As such these groups must be meaningfully consulted, have access to relevant information in a timely fashion and be included in planning processes and the design and implementation of policies. The right to housing engenders new social, economic and political relationships through which rights holders may be empowered to define and claim their rights and effect social and political change necessary for their realization.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on adequate housing as a component of the right to an adequate standard of living
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Social & Cultural Rights
- Person(s) affected
- All
- Year
- 2015
Paragraph
Centrality of the right to adequate housing for the development and implementation of the New Urban Agenda to be adopted at Habitat III in October 2016 2015, para. 21
- Paragraph text
- The right to housing includes many components that must be realized progressively. All levels of government have obligations to adopt strategies for the realization of the right to housing, including strong provisions against discrimination and for equality in all policies related to access, availability and affordability of housing and related-services. Such strategies must include measureable goals and targets, and reasonable timelines for reaching those goals, as well as mechanisms for monitoring, assessing and ensuring progress or taking corrective measures when necessary. In this way, human rights obligations engage directly with the challenge of meeting goals and targets adopted in the new urban agenda.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on adequate housing as a component of the right to an adequate standard of living
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Social & Cultural Rights
- Person(s) affected
- All
- Year
- 2015
Paragraph
Centrality of the right to adequate housing for the development and implementation of the New Urban Agenda to be adopted at Habitat III in October 2016 2015, para. 22
- Paragraph text
- The right to housing is beneficial for its clarity as to who bears the duty to ensure rights for whom. While national Governments ratify international human rights treaties, local and subnational governments are also responsible for implementing international human rights obligations (see A/HRC/28/64). An urban rights agenda must clarify responsibilities with respect to the right to housing and ensure effective coordination and accountability among various levels of government, from national to local. Policies and programmes of different ministries must be informed by and consistent with the right to housing and monitored and assessed regularly.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on adequate housing as a component of the right to an adequate standard of living
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Social & Cultural Rights
- Person(s) affected
- All
- Year
- 2015
Paragraph
Centrality of the right to adequate housing for the development and implementation of the New Urban Agenda to be adopted at Habitat III in October 2016 2015, para. 24
- Paragraph text
- Fiscal accountability is also a critical and often neglected element of a rights-based approach. The realization of the right to adequate housing requires appropriate use and distribution of resources. Under international human rights law, governments are required to give priority to human rights in budgeting by allocating the "maximum of available resources" and using "all appropriate means" to realize the right to adequate housing and related rights.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on adequate housing as a component of the right to an adequate standard of living
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Economic Rights
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Person(s) affected
- All
- Year
- 2015
Paragraph
Centrality of the right to adequate housing for the development and implementation of the New Urban Agenda to be adopted at Habitat III in October 2016 2015, para. 25
- Paragraph text
- Access to justice in cities to claim and enforce the right to adequate housing is also critical, not simply to ensure meaningful accountability but also as a means to identify and remedy barriers that need to be addressed in order to maximize efficiency and effectiveness of programmes. Recent studies suggest, for example, that there are often cost savings for governments if the structural causes of homelessness are addressed and remedied rather than continuing to incur greater costs of policing, emergency services, health care and loss of productivity associated with homelessness. In this regard, accessible mechanisms for implementing and adjudicating the right to adequate housing in cities are important, including human rights institutions working at the city level, civil society and non-governmental organizations that advocate for rights, ombudspersons, mediation officers, administrative tribunals and courts.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on adequate housing as a component of the right to an adequate standard of living
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Person(s) affected
- All
- Year
- 2015
Paragraph
Centrality of the right to adequate housing for the development and implementation of the New Urban Agenda to be adopted at Habitat III in October 2016 2015, para. 27
- Paragraph text
- In order to understand where we are on the road to Habitat III, it is instructive to look back as well as to look ahead. The Millennium Development Goals were adopted just four years after Habitat II and influenced dominant approaches to human development, which in turn affected the implementation of Habitat II.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on adequate housing as a component of the right to an adequate standard of living
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Environment
- Social & Cultural Rights
- Person(s) affected
- All
- Year
- 2015
Paragraph
Centrality of the right to adequate housing for the development and implementation of the New Urban Agenda to be adopted at Habitat III in October 2016 2015, para. 28
- Paragraph text
- The Millennium Development Goals established an international agreement around seven goals linked to ending poverty, each with specific targets and indicators. In doing so, they created an international consensus regarding the select issues that were included in the agenda. While lacking references to human rights, the Millennium Development Goals affirmed certain goals that resonated with human rights to an adequate standard of living, food, work, water and sanitation, aiming to eradicate poverty and hunger, achieve full and productive employment and decent work for all and halve the number of people denied access to safe drinking water and basic sanitation by 2015.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on adequate housing as a component of the right to an adequate standard of living
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Poverty
- Water & Sanitation
- Person(s) affected
- All
- Year
- 2015
Paragraph
Centrality of the right to adequate housing for the development and implementation of the New Urban Agenda to be adopted at Habitat III in October 2016 2015, para. 29
- Paragraph text
- Housing, however, was a clear outlier in the seven Millennium Development Goals. Housing or homelessness were nowhere specifically mentioned. The only housing-related target (Target 7.D: "By 2020, to have achieved a significant improvement in the lives of at least 100 million slum dwellers") was placed under the goal of environmental sustainability in Goal 7. The target suffered from vagueness and damaging interpretations. It allowed national assessment reports to reference almost any improvement, even if only marginal; and a focus on data regarding the proportion of the urban population living in slums as a key indicator encouraged forced evictions that were in fact contrary to human rights law. The target of 100 million was a drop in the bucket compared to the more than one billion people living in inadequate or slum-like conditions and it was detached from key human rights concerns, such as ensuring access to adequate housing, including security of tenure for all.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on adequate housing as a component of the right to an adequate standard of living
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Environment
- Social & Cultural Rights
- Person(s) affected
- All
- Year
- 2015
Paragraph
Centrality of the right to adequate housing for the development and implementation of the New Urban Agenda to be adopted at Habitat III in October 2016 2015, para. 30
- Paragraph text
- Upon their adoption, the Millennium Development Goals appeared to sweep over processes already under way to implement the Habitat Agenda (see para. 13 above). The vague and inadequate target regarding slum dwellers appears to have been conflated with a commitment to the progressive realization of the right to adequate housing as articulated in the Habitat Agenda. Although originally intended as an international reference tool to highlight some issues, the Millennium Development Goals evolved into a blueprint for progress and prioritization at the national level, shaping financing for development agendas. They were widely used in national policymaking and in budget discussions, relegating issues not included in the Millennium Development Goals to the status of secondary priorities, with resources and political will divested accordingly. Statistical targets became confused with the realization of rights. As a result, it was not a surprise that the target of improving the lives of a tiny proportion of those living in slum-like conditions was soon reached when, in reality, substandard housing conditions and homelessness continued to increase around the world.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on adequate housing as a component of the right to an adequate standard of living
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Environment
- Social & Cultural Rights
- Person(s) affected
- All
- Year
- 2015
Paragraph