Search Tips
sorted by
300 shown of 1334 entities
A place to live in dignity for all: make housing affordable
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on adequate housing as a component of the right to an adequate standard of living
- Legal status
- Non-negotiated soft law
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Year
- 2023
- Document code
- A/78/192
- Date modified
- Dec 11, 2023
Document
Towards a just transformation: climate crisis and the right to housing
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on adequate housing as a component of the right to an adequate standard of living
- Legal status
- Non-negotiated soft law
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Year
- 2022
- Document code
- A/HRC/52/28
- Date modified
- Dec 11, 2023
Document
Adequate housing as a component of the right to an adequate standard of living, and the right to non-discrimination in this context
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on adequate housing as a component of the right to an adequate standard of living
- Legal status
- Non-negotiated soft law
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Year
- 2022
- Document code
- A/77/190
- Date modified
- Dec 11, 2023
Document
Spatial segregation and the right to adequate housing
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on adequate housing as a component of the right to an adequate standard of living
- Legal status
- Non-negotiated soft law
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Year
- 2022
- Document code
- A/HRC/49/48
- Date modified
- Dec 11, 2023
Document
Adequate housing as a component of the right to an adequate standard of living
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on adequate housing as a component of the right to an adequate standard of living
- Legal status
- Non-negotiated soft law
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Year
- 2021
- Document code
- A/76/408
- Date modified
- Dec 11, 2023
Document
Twenty years of promoting and protecting the right to adequate housing: taking stock and moving forward
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on adequate housing as a component of the right to an adequate standard of living
- Legal status
- Non-negotiated soft law
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Year
- 2021
- Document code
- A/HRC/47/43
- Date modified
- Dec 11, 2023
Document
COVID-19 and the right to adequate housing
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on adequate housing as a component of the right to an adequate standard of living
- Legal status
- Non-negotiated soft law
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Year
- 2020
- Document code
- A/75/148
- Date modified
- Dec 11, 2023
Document
Guidelines for the Implementation of the Right to Adequate Housing
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on adequate housing as a component of the right to an adequate standard of living
- Legal status
- Non-negotiated soft law
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Year
- 2019
- Document code
- A/HRC/43/43
- Date modified
- Dec 11, 2023
Document
The right to housing for indigenous peoples
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on adequate housing as a component of the right to an adequate standard of living
- Legal status
- Non-negotiated soft law
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Year
- 2019
- Document code
- A/74/183
- Date modified
- Dec 11, 2023
Document
Access to justice for the right to housing
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on adequate housing as a component of the right to an adequate standard of living
- Legal status
- Non-negotiated soft law
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Year
- 2019
- Document code
- A/HRC/40/61
- Date modified
- Dec 11, 2023
Document
The right to housing for residents of informal settlements
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on adequate housing as a component of the right to an adequate standard of living
- Legal status
- Non-negotiated soft law
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Year
- 2018
- Document code
- A/73/310/rev.1
- Date modified
- Dec 11, 2023
Document
Human rights-based national housing strategies
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on adequate housing as a component of the right to an adequate standard of living
- Legal status
- Non-negotiated soft law
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Year
- 2018
- Document code
- A/HRC/37/53
- Date modified
- Dec 11, 2023
Document
Analysis of two alternative housing policies: rental and collective housing 2013, para. 64
- Paragraph text
- Although not all types of collective organizations are accessible to the poorest segments of society, there are numerous advantages to such a form of tenure, including: (a) the use of community leverage to compete with existing housing market forces; (b) cooperative and collective forms of tenure are inextricably linked to enhanced democratic participation, better access to information, and community-led governance; (c) both cooperatives and community funds provide their members with financial strength (through community loans or savings that enable low-income households better access to housing finance); (d) as opposed to the individual finance schemes detailed above, community organizations also have the ability to control land and housing affordability by controlling land prices (community land trusts), providing increased economic resilience (through financial support to households that temporary encounter financial difficulties (Federation of Mutual Aid Housing Cooperatives), protecting low-income households from the housing market volatility and by limiting economic displacement and gentrification.
- 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
- Year
- 2013
- Date modified
- Sep 21, 2020
Paragraph
Mapping and framing security of tenure 2013, para. 68
- Paragraph text
- At a more fundamental level, the above issues may require a paradigm shift away from correlating security of tenure with a property rights regime and towards the grounding of security of tenure solidly in the human rights framework. Related to this is the need to protect the right to adequate housing when it comes into conflict with the right to property. For instance, in the case of Modder East Squatters and Another v. Modderklip Boerdery (Pty) Ltd, involving an informal settlement located on private land, the Supreme Court of South Africa reconciled this conflict of law by ordering the State authorities to compensate the owner of the land for the costs associated with its occupation by the informal settlement until such time as the State authorities could provide alternative land for the residents of that settlement, thereby recognizing the rights of the community to adequate housing and to protection against illegal eviction. Modderklip demonstrates how individual property rights can interfere with, rather than enhance, tenure rights of others. It also demonstrates how such a conflict of rights can be reconciled. Such conflicts also take place between the rights of landlords and those of tenants.
- 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
- Year
- 2013
- Date modified
- Sep 21, 2020
Paragraph
The right to adequate housing of persons with disabilities 2017, para. 45d
- Original document
- Paragraph text
- [The Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights has identified some indicators of whether a State has satisfied a standard of reasonableness, including:] Whether the precarious situation of disadvantaged and marginalized individuals or groups has been addressed;
- 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
- Year
- 2017
- Date modified
- Sep 21, 2020
Paragraph
The right to adequate housing of persons with disabilities 2017, para. 45f
- Original document
- Paragraph text
- [The Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights has identified some indicators of whether a State has satisfied a standard of reasonableness, including:] Whether decision-making is transparent and participatory.
- 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
- Year
- 2017
- Date modified
- Sep 21, 2020
Paragraph
The right to adequate housing of persons with disabilities 2017, para. 45b
- Original document
- Paragraph text
- [The Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights has identified some indicators of whether a State has satisfied a standard of reasonableness, including:] Whether resource allocation is in accordance with international human rights standards;
- 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
- Gender
- Year
- 2017
- Date modified
- Sep 21, 2020
Paragraph
Homelessness as a global human rights crisis that demands an urgent global response 2016, para. 91a
- Paragraph text
- [In line with the present conclusions, the Special Rapporteur offers the following recommendations to States:] All States must commit to eliminating homelessness by 2030 or earlier if possible, in a manner that upholds international human rights and in keeping with target 11.1 of the Sustainable Development Goals;
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on adequate housing as a component of the right to an adequate standard of living
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Person(s) affected
- N.A.
- Year
- 2016
- Date modified
- Sep 21, 2020
Paragraph
Homelessness as a global human rights crisis that demands an urgent global response 2016, para. 92a
- Paragraph text
- [The Special Rapporteur offers the following recommendations to other actors:] The media, including journalists, editorial boards, producers and owners, must ensure that homeless people are never depicted in a discriminatory or hateful manner. Oversight and regulation in this regard is needed;
- 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
- Year
- 2016
- Date modified
- Sep 21, 2020
Paragraph
Homelessness as a global human rights crisis that demands an urgent global response 2016, para. 80
- Paragraph text
- Homeless people have begun to reassert their identity through human rights claims through both social movements and legal action. In South Africa, the shack-dwellers' movement, Abahlali, has emerged as a vibrant social movement, claiming the right to housing through both legal and political means. In Uganda, the Uganda Network on Law, Ethics and HIV/AIDS provides free legal representation for homeless widows dispossessed of their homes and properties as a result of discriminatory property and inheritance laws. In the Simon Community in northern Belfast, homeless people, with the assistance of the organization Participation and the Practice of Rights, launched the Homelessness Action Charter to promote the human rights of homeless people. In Canada, homeless people and supportive organizations challenged as unconstitutional national and subnational governments' failure to effectively address homelessness, while simultaneously lobbying for legislation to create a national homelessness and housing strategy. In the United States, homeless peoples' organizations have systematically and successfully challenged laws and policies that criminalize homelessness and have lobbied for federal, State and municipal housing strategies. In El Salvador, local community members formed a national commission for residents to advocate for housing rights alongside other civil society organizations.
- 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
- Social & Cultural Rights
- Year
- 2016
- Date modified
- Sep 21, 2020
Paragraph
Responsibilities of local and other subnational governments in relation to the right to adequate housing 2015, para. 32
- Paragraph text
- Treaty bodies have also dealt with responsibilities of subnational governments in complaints procedures. For example, in Liliana Assenova Naidenova et al. v. Bulgaria (CCPR/C/106/D/2073/2011), a Roma community challenged a forced eviction initiated by the Sofia Metropolitan Municipality, Vuzrajdane subdistrict, acting independently of the national Government. The community was unsuccessful in challenging the eviction domestically, with the Sofia City Court determining that the eviction was lawful and the Supreme Administrative Court upholding that decision. The Human Rights Committee requested interim measures to stop the city from proceeding with the eviction and, after considering the communication on the merits, found that the State party would violate the petitioners' rights under article 17 of the Covenant if the eviction proceeded without the provision of adequate alternative accommodation for the community. The national Government used the Committee's decision to exert pressure on the Municipality to refrain from carrying out the eviction. Two years later, the permanent injunction remains in place and the community is in discussion with the municipal authorities on alternative housing.
- 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
- Social & Cultural Rights
- Year
- 2015
- Date modified
- Sep 21, 2020
Paragraph
Guiding Principles on security of tenure for the urban poor 2014, para. 24
- Paragraph text
- The assessments should be made public in an accessible format, including to settlement residents for discussion and verification. They should inform the preparation of citywide strategies for securing tenure for the different situations, with strong participation of residents.
- 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
- Year
- 2014
- Date modified
- Sep 21, 2020
Paragraph
Reflection on work undertaken in first 14 years of the mandate; outline of opportunities and priorities 2014, para. 72
- Paragraph text
- Through consultations and expert meetings with national and international housing rights experts, government officials, United Nations agencies, civil society representatives and parliamentarians, the Special Rapporteur will develop a thematic report in which to identify and elaborate on the key characteristics required of national housing strategies based on human 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)
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Social & Cultural Rights
- Year
- 2014
- Date modified
- Sep 21, 2020
Paragraph
Reflection on work undertaken in first 14 years of the mandate; outline of opportunities and priorities 2014, para. 26
- Paragraph text
- Ensuring access to justice for claimants of the right to adequate housing has emerged as a central and shared challenge for States and treaty bodies. Meeting that challenge will continue to require ongoing dialogue and interaction between States, including domestic courts, and international human rights bodies and procedures.
- 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
- Year
- 2014
- Date modified
- Sep 21, 2020
Paragraph
Reflection on work undertaken in first 14 years of the mandate; outline of opportunities and priorities 2014, para. 63
- Paragraph text
- Drawing on the work on stigmatization and exclusion undertaken by her predecessor and other Special Rapporteurs, the Special Rapporteur on adequate housing intends to conduct research into the ways in which housing status is linked to criminalization, stigmatization and exclusion and how that problem can be addressed.
- 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
- Year
- 2014
- Date modified
- Sep 21, 2020
Paragraph
Mapping and framing security of tenure 2013, para. 94
- Paragraph text
- In addition, disaster risk reduction and climate change adaptation legislation, and measures such as planned relocation, natural hazard risk mapping and land zoning for residential housing, have been used to bypass eviction protections or may be phrased in a manner that could be misused to forcibly evict people.
- 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
- Year
- 2013
- Date modified
- Sep 21, 2020
Paragraph
Mapping and framing security of tenure 2013, para. 20
- Paragraph text
- Any discussion of land and housing tenure needs to recognize the importance of cultural, historical and political contexts, and the specific legal systems in place. The particular combination of these specificities results in subtle differences in the way key terms and relationships are defined.
- 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
- Year
- 2013
- Date modified
- Sep 21, 2020
Paragraph
Mapping and framing security of tenure 2013, para. 29
- Paragraph text
- Informal settlements are self-made, spontaneous, self-managed and unplanned settlement and housing arrangements, initiated by urban poor themselves. They are generally characterized by precarious infrastructure and housing conditions. The term informal settlement has become common, but many other terms are used, such as "slums", "bidonvilles" and "favelas", among 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)
- Economic Rights
- Poverty
- Social & Cultural Rights
- Year
- 2013
- Date modified
- Sep 21, 2020
Paragraph
Analysis of two alternative housing policies: rental and collective housing 2013, para. 15
- Paragraph text
- Problems have also emerged with regard to the location of housing units, some exacerbating exclusion and segregation. In countries like Chile, subsidized housing developments were built in the urban periphery where land costs were lowest, but which lacked adequate infrastructure, schools, health facilities, transportation and employment opportunities and were characterized by low habitability.
- 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
- Year
- 2013
- Date modified
- Sep 21, 2020
Paragraph
Analysis of two alternative housing policies: rental and collective housing 2013, para. 43
- Paragraph text
- While increasing access to homeownership for low-income households through credit has proved to lead to overindebtedness and housing crises, rental housing has the potential to promote a range of more affordable options, while reducing financial risk and enabling better mobility.
- 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
- Movement
- Social & Cultural Rights
- Year
- 2013
- Date modified
- Sep 21, 2020
Paragraph
Analysis of two alternative housing policies: rental and collective housing 2013, para. 22
- Paragraph text
- The sections below provide a review of alternative housing policies for the urban poor that have been largely ignored by States in recent years - rental arrangements and collective and tenure - while analysing their compatibility with the promotion of 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)
- Economic Rights
- Poverty
- Social & Cultural Rights
- Year
- 2013
- Date modified
- Sep 21, 2020
Paragraph
The impact of housing finance policies on the right to adequate housing of those living in poverty 2012, para. 40
- Paragraph text
- In the absence of State land planning, a large amount of subsidies available in the housing market has led to significant increases in land and housing prices, a general problem of affordability for low-income households and long waiting lists.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on adequate housing as a component of the right to an adequate standard of living
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Year
- 2012
- Date modified
- Sep 21, 2020
Paragraph
Analysis of two alternative housing policies: rental and collective housing 2013, para. 41
- Paragraph text
- Most informal landlords let property that lacks a building license, do not issue written contracts, do not abide by rental and tax legislations and requirements, and in most cases are unaware(as are their tenants) of the existing relevant legislation.
- 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
- Social & Cultural Rights
- Year
- 2013
- Date modified
- Sep 21, 2020
Paragraph
The right to adequate housing in disaster relief efforts 2011, para. 7
- Paragraph text
- [The Special Rapporteur makes the following recommendations:] States must adopt disaster risk reduction legislation that respects the right to adequate housing. Special attention must be given to those who may face discrimination and exclusion, including on the grounds of tenure status, and measures must be devised to protect them.
- 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
- Humanitarian
- Year
- 2011
- Date modified
- Sep 21, 2020
Paragraph
Migration and the right to adequate housing 2010, para. 94
- Paragraph text
- Education is a fundamental element in combating discrimination. States should provide training to authorities at the policymaking level and to officials working in the housing sector on human rights principles and standards, particularly on the right to adequate housing and on the principles of non discrimination and equality of 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)
- Education
- Equality & Inclusion
- Year
- 2010
- Date modified
- Sep 21, 2020
Paragraph
The right to adequate housing in disaster relief efforts 2011, para. 64.5
- Paragraph text
- [The Special Rapporteur makes the following recommendations:] Communities and settlements, not just houses, should be rebuilt or resettled: Community structures and networks, to the extent that they respect international human rights standards including on gender equality, should be deliberately preserved and supported.
- 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
- Equality & Inclusion
- Gender
- Social & Cultural Rights
- Year
- 2011
- Date modified
- Sep 21, 2020
Paragraph
Financialization of housing and the right to adequate housing 2017, para. 4
- Paragraph text
- In "hedge cities", prime destinations for global capital seeking safe havens for investments, housing prices have increased to levels that most residents cannot afford, creating huge increases in wealth for property owners in prime locations while excluding moderate- and low-income households from access to homeownership or rentals due to unaffordability. Those households are pushed to peri-urban areas with scant employment and 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
- Year
- 2017
- Date modified
- Sep 21, 2020
Paragraph
Homelessness as a global human rights crisis that demands an urgent global response 2016, para. 68
- Paragraph text
- Some States have also been reluctant to collect and provide reliable data, perceiving it to be contrary to their interests, particularly if they are seeking to attract development or tourism or to host mega events. Data collected by governments need to be supplemented by information that may only be available to non-governmental organizations and community-based organizations working directly with homeless populations.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on adequate housing as a component of the right to an adequate standard of living
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Person(s) affected
- N.A.
- Year
- 2016
- Date modified
- Sep 21, 2020
Paragraph
Homelessness as a global human rights crisis that demands an urgent global response 2016, para. 30
- Paragraph text
- The precariousness of informality and the prevalence of development-based evictions continue to be major structural causes of homelessness. Informal neighbourhoods are wiped out and replaced with high-end tourist attractions, shopping malls or entertainment districts. Land contamination and mismanagement compound these effects. Evictions without adequate resettlement, as is common, invariably lead to homelessness.
- 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
- Year
- 2016
- Date modified
- Sep 21, 2020
Paragraph
Post conflict and post disaster reconstruction and the right to adequate housing 2011, para. 35
- Paragraph text
- The post-Hurricane Mitch period also saw development in the legal framework related to land and housing issues, though the judicial system remained weak and so the potential benefits of the new legislation remained inaccessible to the poor. Missing from the current strategy in Honduras is a comprehensive programme to increase the supply of urbanized land and improve tenure security for the poor and the marginalized.
- 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
- Poverty
- Social & Cultural Rights
- Year
- 2011
- Date modified
- Sep 21, 2020
Paragraph
Homelessness as a global human rights crisis that demands an urgent global response 2016, para. 92b
- Paragraph text
- [The Special Rapporteur offers the following recommendations to other actors:] Humanitarian assistance must not be conditional on place of residence prior to conflict or natural disaster. Property titles or other documents that are often not available to people who are homeless should not be a barrier to receiving emergency and longer-term humanitarian assistance;
- 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
- Humanitarian
- Year
- 2016
- Date modified
- Sep 21, 2020
Paragraph
Homelessness as a global human rights crisis that demands an urgent global response 2016, para. 91f
- Paragraph text
- [In line with the present conclusions, the Special Rapporteur offers the following recommendations to States:] Homeless people must be recognized as a protected group in all relevant domestic anti-discrimination and hate-crime laws, including where relevant in national Constitutions, national and subnational human rights legislation and in city charters;
- 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
- Year
- 2016
- Date modified
- Sep 21, 2020
Paragraph
Financialization of housing and the right to adequate housing 2017, para. 7
- Paragraph text
- While much has been written about the financialization of housing, it has not often been considered from the standpoint of human rights. Decision-making and assessment of policies relating to housing and finance are devoid of reference to housing as a human right. Issues related to business and human rights have received some attention in recent years. However, the housing and real estate sector - the largest business sector with many of the most serious impacts on human rights - appears to have been mostly ignored.
- 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
- Social & Cultural Rights
- Year
- 2017
- Date modified
- Sep 21, 2020
Paragraph
Financialization of housing and the right to adequate housing 2017, para. 6
- Paragraph text
- In many countries in the global South, where the majority of households are unlikely to have access to formal credit, the impact of financialization is experienced differently, but with a common theme - the subversion of housing and land as social goods in favour of their value as commodities for the accumulation of wealth, resulting in widespread evictions and displacement. Informal settlements are frequently replaced by luxury residential and high-end commercial real estate.
- 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)
- Movement
- Social & Cultural Rights
- Year
- 2017
- Date modified
- Sep 21, 2020
Paragraph
Homelessness as a global human rights crisis that demands an urgent global response 2016, para. 81
- Paragraph text
- There are diverse models for ensuring participation of stakeholders in strategies to address homelessness. Brazil, for example, has created a participatory model for social policy that relies on policy councils of stakeholders. In Munich, Germany, special units for the prevention of homelessness have provided support in preventing evictions or repossessions. In Europe, FEANTSA has organized and advanced rights claims on behalf of homeless people in a wide range of legal and political forums.
- 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
- Social & Cultural Rights
- Year
- 2016
- Date modified
- Sep 21, 2020
Paragraph
Financialization of housing and the right to adequate housing 2017, para. 56
- Paragraph text
- Domestic adjudication in the area of housing and finance has also tended to protect investors and has been oriented towards enforcing the contractual relationship between lenders and creditors, both with individual households and with States, without considering imbalances in power or the implications for human rights of the means used for enforcing repayment. The right to adequate housing has rarely been referenced in the adjudication of foreclosures and subsequent evictions, although it is clearly at issue.
- 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
- Year
- 2017
- Date modified
- Sep 21, 2020
Paragraph
Homelessness as a global human rights crisis that demands an urgent global response 2016, para. 62
- Paragraph text
- In many countries, social movements are incorporating legal strategies into broader political strategies to challenge homelessness and affirm the right to adequate housing. Abahlali baseMjondolo, the South African shack-dwellers' movement, and other organizations in South Africa have developed approaches to social mobilization linked to legal strategies to claim rights, without losing sight of the fundamentally political nature of the struggle for adequate housing.
- 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
- Social & Cultural Rights
- Year
- 2016
- Date modified
- Sep 21, 2020
Paragraph
Homelessness as a global human rights crisis that demands an urgent global response 2016, para. 78
- Paragraph text
- In many countries, national human rights institutions are able to investigate allegations of human rights violations related to homelessness and make recommendations to relevant authorities to design public policy and to remedy those violations. For the first time, the Human Rights Commission of Mexico City held a public hearing with groups of homeless people, then issued a report that focused on their human rights situation, including discrimination, criminalization and other human rights issues.
- 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
- Year
- 2016
- Date modified
- Sep 21, 2020
Paragraph
Homelessness as a global human rights crisis that demands an urgent global response 2016, para. 41
- Paragraph text
- The global economic crisis has had a distinct impact on women's homelessness. In Spain, for example, many single mothers were overindebted from home purchases. In many cases, former partners or husbands who shared mortgages refused to negotiate with banks for debt restructuring, relief or cancellation. When their homes were repossessed, they were left with significant debt, often living in insecure housing - at severe risk of homelessness.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on adequate housing as a component of the right to an adequate standard of living
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Person(s) affected
- Families
- Women
- Year
- 2016
- Date modified
- Sep 21, 2020
Paragraph
Reflection on work undertaken in first 14 years of the mandate; outline of opportunities and priorities 2014, para. 89
- Paragraph text
- The Rapporteur also intends to engage in sustained work with international financial institutions that have relevant roles in funding and providing technical assistance for housing and infrastructure projects, including the World Bank, to ensure that those roles are supportive of housing rights. In a similar vein, she wishes to explore opportunities for dialogue with international cooperation and assistance agencies created by various States.
- 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
- Year
- 2014
- Date modified
- Sep 21, 2020
Paragraph
Responsibilities of local and other subnational governments in relation to the right to adequate housing 2015, para. 58
- Paragraph text
- There are significant advantages to subnational governments developing such independent approaches. They are best placed to respond to the distinctive challenges of implementing the right to housing at the local level and to enable residents' empowerment and participation in local government. That offers an important foundation for community- based, human rights approaches to local governance and programme administration.
- 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
- Year
- 2015
- Date modified
- Sep 21, 2020
Paragraph
The impact of housing finance policies on the right to adequate housing of those living in poverty 2012, para. 71d
- Paragraph text
- [The Special Rapporteur calls for a paradigm shift from housing policies based on the financialization of housing to a human rights-based approach to housing policies. In this context, she makes the following recommendations:] Housing policies should redress discrimination in access to adequate housing and promote the realization of the right to adequate housing for the most disadvantaged groups;
- 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
- Year
- 2012
- Date modified
- Sep 21, 2020
Paragraph
Analysis of two alternative housing policies: rental and collective housing 2013, para. 35
- Paragraph text
- Critics of rent control and regulation claim that such measures produce inefficiencies, distort market values, reduce the housing supply and encourage corruption and low housing maintenance. Rent regulation has also been criticized for not targeting low-income households since controlled rents and protected tenancies usually favour those who have lived in rental housing for years over potential new tenants, and there is no mechanism to ensure that those benefitting from rent control are the 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)
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Social & Cultural Rights
- Year
- 2013
- Date modified
- Sep 21, 2020
Paragraph
Mapping and framing security of tenure 2013, para. 85
- Paragraph text
- Some innovative planning regulations exist to secure tenure for the most marginalized. A significant example is the Brazilian "Special Zones of Social Interest" (ZEIS). ZEIS is a planning instrument, based on the constitutional recognition of the social function of property, regulating the use and occupation, for social housing purposes, of public or private properties. It is used to recognize existing informal settlements as well as to define unoccupied areas of the city as areas for social housing.
- 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
- Social & Cultural Rights
- Year
- 2013
- Date modified
- Sep 21, 2020
Paragraph
The impact of housing finance policies on the right to adequate housing of those living in poverty 2012, para. 65
- Paragraph text
- Housing finance policies based on credit are inherently discriminatory against lower-income households, and at their best increase housing affordability 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 inherent to global financial markets and indebtedness.
- 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
- Poverty
- Year
- 2012
- Date modified
- Sep 21, 2020
Paragraph
Post conflict and post disaster reconstruction and the right to adequate housing 2011, para. 49
- Paragraph text
- The Rwandan Government remained in principle committed to the policy and re-launched the concept in 2007 following the promulgation of the 2004 Human Settlement Policy. In 2008, the Government announced plans to establish 30 pilot villages, one in every district, to encourage people to move into imidugudu through a system of positive incentives, such as the provision of agricultural tools and livestock. Major services, such as water sources and electricity supplies, have yet to be supplied in most cases, while many newly created villages have no services whatsoever. In addition, although the authorities stated their wish to be more open and to shift to an incentive-based rather than mandatory approach, the programme is still felt by many to be implemented in a "top-down" manner. Nevertheless the overall process is proceeding apace and the Government estimates that by May 2010 some 51 per cent of the rural population was located in imidugudu, a remarkably rapid increase from 22 per cent in 2008, and well on the way to the target for its Vision2020 objective of 70 per cent by 2014. The long-term social consequences of these achievements are still unclear. In adopting and implementing the policy there has been a blurring of humanitarian, development and "security" or population control agendas, in the absence of genuine consultation, negotiation and reconciliation. This, coupled with a lack of sufficient pro-poor urban settlement practices, may lead to future problems.
- 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
- Humanitarian
- Year
- 2011
- Date modified
- Sep 21, 2020
Paragraph
Analysis of two alternative housing policies: rental and collective housing 2013, para. 6
- Paragraph text
- Paradoxically, side by side with the housing affordability and availability crises there is also a phenomenon of millions of empty or under occupied housing units, a clear reflection of the ineffectiveness of the current model. For illustration, there are nearly 1 million empty homes in the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, of which 350,000 have been empty for more than six months; in the United States 14.2 million homes have been vacant for more than one year.
- 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
- Humanitarian
- Year
- 2013
- Date modified
- Sep 21, 2020
Paragraph
The right to adequate housing in disaster relief efforts 2011, para. 18
- Paragraph text
- Sixteen months after the earthquake, there were still 634,000 people in over 1,000 camps. Observers noted that the camp populations were declining more slowly than in 2010, suggesting that people had nowhere else to go or had decided that however precarious their situation in the camps, it was still better than their situation of origin. The earthquake thus highlighted long-entrenched patterns of discrimination and neglect. Disasters elsewhere have had similar effects.
- 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
- Equality & Inclusion
- Year
- 2011
- Date modified
- Sep 21, 2020
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. 39
- Paragraph text
- Housing status, such as being homeless or a "squatter" or a resident of an informal settlement, has become more than a marker of deprivation in cities. It has become a social identity that is often the basis for stigmatization and discrimination, limiting opportunities and creating further obstacles to inclusion and equality.
- 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
- Year
- 2015
- Date modified
- Sep 21, 2020
Paragraph
Homelessness as a global human rights crisis that demands an urgent global response 2016, para. 20
- Paragraph text
- Strategies to address homelessness are, ironically, often tainted with prejudice and stigmatization. For example, in August 2015, the office of the Mayor of New York introduced a mobile telephone application called Map the Homeless that allowed users to take snapshots of homeless people and report them to the police. Social media hashtag labels included #AggressivePanhandling and #Violent.
- 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
- Year
- 2016
- Date modified
- Sep 21, 2020
Paragraph
Post conflict and post disaster reconstruction and the right to adequate housing 2011, para. 67
- Paragraph text
- In post-conflict and post-disaster situations mechanisms should be put in place to monitor violations of the right to adequate housing, including forced evictions. Victims of such violations should be entitled to legal remedies and have access to justice.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on adequate housing as a component of the right to an adequate standard of living
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Person(s) affected
- All
- Year
- 2011
- Date modified
- Sep 21, 2020
Paragraph
Analysis of two alternative housing policies: rental and collective housing 2013, para. 14
- Paragraph text
- However, in the absence of land planning and regulations, a large amount of subsidies available in the housing market has led to significant increases in land and housing prices, a general problem of affordability for low-income households and long waiting lists.
- 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
- Year
- 2013
- Date modified
- Sep 21, 2020
Paragraph
Financialization of housing and the right to adequate housing 2017, para. 37
- Paragraph text
- Financialized housing markets create and thrive on gentrification and the appropriation of public value for private wealth. Improved services, schools or parks in an impoverished neighbourhood attract investment, which then drives residents out. The transformation of an old railway line in West Chelsea in Manhattan into a public walkway and park has attracted wealthy investors to a mixed income neighbourhood, radically transforming it with luxury housing units costing in the multimillions, and displacing longer term residents. In Vancouver, the opening of new public transport facilities in Burnaby, one of the few remaining areas of affordable rental housing, has quickly led to the development of expensive condominium towers, displacing residents who have not only lived there for decades, but also invested in developing their community.
- 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
- Year
- 2017
- Date modified
- Sep 21, 2020
Paragraph
Financialization of housing and the right to adequate housing 2017, para. 57
- Paragraph text
- In some instances, courts have played an important role in holding financial institutions liable for predatory and discriminatory lending practices, albeit without reference to international human rights obligations. In a recent case, the Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals in the United States ruled in favour of a lawsuit brought by the city of Miami against Bank of America and Wells Fargo for discriminatory predatory lending practices linked to the mortgage crisis. The Constitutional Court of South Africa recently considered a case involving a fraudulent scheme by investors and a finance company leading to hundreds of homeowners suffering losses of homes and savings. The Court rejected a claim by banks that would place responsibility on the homeowner for repayment of an unpaid debt due to the bank, holding that there is an obligation on the part of well-resourced powerful banking groups to check on the legality of what their clients are buying before lending money and earning interest on it.
- 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
- Year
- 2017
- Date modified
- Sep 21, 2020
Paragraph
Financialization of housing and the right to adequate housing 2017, para. 34
- Paragraph text
- Increased prices of housing and real estate assets have become key drivers in the creation of greater wealth inequality. Those who own property in prime urban locations have become richer, while lower-income households confronting the escalating costs of housing become poorer. Surveys of ultra-high-net-worth individuals show that more than half have increased the proportion of their investments allocated to residential properties, with the most common reasons being in order to sell at a later date and to provide a safe haven for wealth. The "economics of inequality", in fact, may be explained in large part by the inequalities of wealth generated by housing and real estate investments. Buying a home with a mortgage becomes a speculative investment depending on volatile financial markets, which may generate considerable wealth on leveraged equity or, alternatively, deprive households of a lifetime of savings.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on adequate housing as a component of the right to an adequate standard of living
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Person(s) affected
- N.A.
- Year
- 2017
- Date modified
- Sep 21, 2020
Paragraph
Financialization of housing and the right to adequate housing 2017, para. 33
- Paragraph text
- Many residential rental properties are now owned by bondholders or holders of public stock with no direct connection to properties. It is difficult to know who is accountable for human rights when the owner of housing is a multibillion dollar fund, bondholders, public stockholders or a nameless corporate shell. Tenants living in housing owned by absentee corporate landlords have complained of sharp increases in rent, inadequate maintenance and conditions as a result of substandard renovations that have been undertaken quickly to flip the home into rentals, and an inability to hold anyone accountable for those conditions.
- 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
- Year
- 2017
- Date modified
- Sep 21, 2020
Paragraph
Financialization of housing and the right to adequate housing 2017, para. 69
- Paragraph text
- In response to the mortgage crisis in Spain, the autonomous regions of Andalusia and Catalonia introduced progressive laws explicitly affirming the social function of housing and facilitating temporary expropriation of vacant housing. Catalonian legislation also prohibited foreclosures and evictions that would result in homelessness. Both of those regional initiatives were struck down by the Constitutional Court as encroaching on the jurisdiction of the national Government and opposing the general economic interests of the country. In response, at least in the case of Catalonia, the legislation was reintroduced with amendments and was passed by the Catalonian parliament.
- 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
- Social & Cultural Rights
- Year
- 2017
- Date modified
- Sep 21, 2020
Paragraph
Financialization of housing and the right to adequate housing 2017, para. 45
- Paragraph text
- Informal settlements in Southern cities are regularly demolished for luxury housing and commercial development such as shopping malls and other high-end services intended for those with expendable incomes. In Lagos, Nigeria, for example, 30,000 residents of the Otodo Gbame community were forcibly removed after their waterfront homes were set alight, allegedly related to luxury developments. Many were left homeless. Elsewhere, when informal settlements are upgraded with infrastructure development and the granting of formal title and credit, they become subject to speculation and rising costs that force existing residents, particularly informal renters, out of the community. The real estate market in Mumbai, India, is now actively engaged in promoting speculative investment in informal settlements, where upgraded housing is attracting real estate speculation and price 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)
- Economic Rights
- Social & Cultural Rights
- Year
- 2017
- Date modified
- Sep 21, 2020
Paragraph
Financialization of housing and the right to adequate housing 2017, para. 23
- Paragraph text
- States have continued to focus on attracting capital and wealthy investors with reduced taxes and other benefits. Countries like Cyprus, Greece, Portugal and Spain, where harsh austerity measures have been implemented, have enacted policies to entice foreign investors into their domestic markets. One such measure, colloquially known as the "golden visa", allows foreign investors to receive permanent residence or even citizenship in exchange for a minimum amount of investment in property: €500,000 in Spain and Portugal, €300,000 in Cyprus and €250,000 in Greece. Australia has a similar programme for individual foreign investors who purchase $A 5 million in real estate through a real estate investment trust to qualify for an Australian significant investor visa. Programmes of that nature can contribute to housing affordability problems for local residents without providing any evidence of substantial benefits for the broader population.
- 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
- Year
- 2017
- Date modified
- Sep 21, 2020
Paragraph
Financialization of housing and the right to adequate housing 2017, para. 30
- Paragraph text
- A significant portion of investor-owned homes are simply left empty. In Melbourne, Australia, for example, 82,000 or one fifth of investor-owned units lie empty. In the affluent boroughs of Chelsea and Kensington in the city of London, prime locations for wealthy foreign investors, the number of vacant units increased by 40 per cent between 2013 and 2014. In such markets, the value of housing is no longer based on its social use. The housing is as valuable whether it is vacant or occupied, lived in or devoid of life. Homes sit empty while homeless populations burgeon.
- 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
- Year
- 2017
- Date modified
- Sep 21, 2020
Paragraph
Homelessness as a global human rights crisis that demands an urgent global response 2016, para. 91h
- Paragraph text
- [In line with the present conclusions, the Special Rapporteur offers the following recommendations to States:] Homeless people must be ensured access to hearings and effective remedies for violations of their rights, including as a result of the failure of States to take reasonable measures within the maximum available resources to eliminate homelessness. Class or group actions should be facilitated where possible and effective remedies should be available in multiple forums, including courts, administrative tribunals and national human rights institutions;
- 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
- Year
- 2016
- Date modified
- Sep 21, 2020
Paragraph
Homelessness as a global human rights crisis that demands an urgent global response 2016, para. 72
- Paragraph text
- For this reason, the Special Rapporteur underlines the critical importance of qualitative evidence, including, for example, oral testimony, photographs or videos. A human rights-based measurement of homelessness should focus on prevention and on addressing underlying causes, and qualitative information capturing actual experiences often reveals more about how to prevent or solve it than numbers alone. It is also vital to understand the trajectories into and out of homelessness, with longitudinal analysis of how people become homeless, how long they are homeless and how they escape from it to supplement point-in-time counts.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on adequate housing as a component of the right to an adequate standard of living
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Year
- 2016
- Date modified
- Sep 21, 2020
Paragraph
Homelessness as a global human rights crisis that demands an urgent global response 2016, para. 58
- Paragraph text
- The Supreme Court of India has affirmed that the right to life "includes the right to live with human dignity and all that goes along with it, namely, the bare necessities of life, such as adequate nutrition, clothing and shelter". The High Court of New Delhi initiated a case on its own motion to consider whether the demolition of a temporary homeless shelter in preparation for the 2010 Commonwealth Games had violated the right to life. The loss of the shelter resulted in the death of one former resident. The Court ordered the Delhi government to rebuild the shelter and to stop evicting homeless persons in winter.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on adequate housing as a component of the right to an adequate standard of living
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Person(s) affected
- Persons on the move
- Year
- 2016
- Date modified
- Sep 21, 2020
Paragraph
Homelessness as a global human rights crisis that demands an urgent global response 2016, para. 84
- Paragraph text
- Since ensuring the enjoyment of human rights is a firm legal responsibility of all levels of government, policymakers can be compelled to incorporate human rights into their laws, policies and programmes, such as: consulting with homeless people throughout the policy development and implementation process; incorporating measureable goals and timelines into strategies; including monitoring and review mechanisms to ensure successful outcomes; and providing homeless people with a mechanism through which to claim their rights and with access to remedies. These are essential requirements for there to be meaningful inclusion of homeless people in the human family, restoring to them dignity, respect and protection under the rule of law.
- 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
- Year
- 2016
- Date modified
- Sep 21, 2020
Paragraph
Homelessness as a global human rights crisis that demands an urgent global response 2016, para. 24
- Paragraph text
- Such laws are often framed under the guise of public health and safety but, in reality, the aim is to "beautify" an area for the promotion of tourism and business or to increase property values. Examples are countless: in Zimbabwe, an operation to "sweep out the rubbish" through demolitions of shanty towns in 2005 left up to 1.5 million people homeless in the middle of the winter. In June 2014, the Mayor of Honolulu introduced new measures to crack down on homelessness because tourists want to see "their paradise, not homeless people sleeping". In Medellín, Colombia, during the World Urban Forum, the homeless population was transported outside of the city. In Australia, "move on" laws permit authorities to "disperse" homeless people "where a person's mere presence could cause anxiety to another person or interfere with another's 'reasonable enjoyment' of the space".
- 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
- Year
- 2016
- Date modified
- Sep 21, 2020
Paragraph
Responsibilities of local and other subnational governments in relation to the right to adequate housing 2015, para. 63
- Paragraph text
- Madison County in Wisconsin, United States of America, adopted a city resolution in 2011 recognizing housing as a human right. The resolution requires Madison to promote fair housing and refers to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and to the Convention on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination, to which the United States is party. The city is therefore required to eliminate policies with a racially discriminatory impact. The resolution calls for an assessment of affordable and accessible housing needs and an adequately funded, responsive housing strategy. Those types of initiatives are particularly important in a country that has not ratified the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, and raise the possibility of subnational governments affirming direct accountability to international human rights norms even where the State has not ratified them.
- 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
- Year
- 2015
- Date modified
- Sep 21, 2020
Paragraph
Responsibilities of local and other subnational governments in relation to the right to adequate housing 2015, para. 22
- Paragraph text
- Viewed through a human rights lens, from the perspective of those whose right to housing is at stake, those common challenges facing local governments or housing providers can be seen as barriers to the realization of rights. Those who are disproportionately affected by the challenges identified tend to be the most marginalized groups - those whose right to housing is most at risk. It is those groups who suffer most when local governments lack capacity or resources, when there is an absence of local human rights accountability, when local government becomes protectionist and exclusionary, and it is those groups who often confront the most complex web of governmental decision-making and authority, with the least information available to them.
- 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
- Year
- 2015
- Date modified
- Sep 21, 2020
Paragraph
Responsibilities of local and other subnational governments in relation to the right to adequate housing 2015, para. 39
- Paragraph text
- In communications involving local authorities, however, official responses from States rarely indicate whether the information was shared with relevant local or subnational authorities, or describe the concrete steps and measures taken at those levels. For example, in 2014 the Special Rapporteur issued a joint urgent appeal together with the Special Rapporteur on the human right to safe drinking water and sanitation, and the Special Rapporteur on extreme poverty and human rights, to the Government of the United States. The letter focused on the decision by the authorities in the city of Detroit to suspend water services to thousands of households. In its response to the letter, the Government of the United States did not indicate whether it had consulted with the Governor of Michigan or the Mayor of Detroit regarding the allegations.
- 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
- Water & Sanitation
- Year
- 2015
- Date modified
- Sep 21, 2020
Paragraph
Responsibilities of local and other subnational governments in relation to the right to adequate housing 2015, para. 23
- Paragraph text
- The situation of residents of informal settlements in many cities around the world illustrates how allocation of responsibilities among different levels of government plays out in peoples' lives. For example, a recent study considers the situation of residents of the Mukuru settlement in Nairobi. They live in windowless shacks on privately held land without sewage or water infrastructure. They have been unable to determine title through local governments and therefore lack security of tenure, rendering them ineligible to apply for basic water, sewers or electricity. With the Kenyan Constitution now recognizing "the right to accessible and adequate housing and to reasonable standards of sanitation", the challenge for local residents is to claim their rights within a complex web of regulatory schemes and decisions applied by an array of governmental actors.
- 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
- Year
- 2015
- Date modified
- Sep 21, 2020
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. 50
- Paragraph text
- To attend to the needs of diverse groups and ensure accountability, it is important that housing safety issues be addressed within a human rights framework. At a minimum, according to international human rights obligations, cities must ensure that there are safe places for people to reside when their homes become dangerous. Basic services like sanitation and water must be available in a manner that poses no risk to safety (see A/HRC/21/42, paras. 39 and 40) and housing design must be responsive to the needs of particular vulnerable groups, as articulated by those groups.
- 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
- Water & Sanitation
- Year
- 2015
- Date modified
- Sep 21, 2020
Paragraph
Guiding Principles on security of tenure for the urban poor 2014, para. 70
- Paragraph text
- Business enterprises should publicly commit to taking all relevant steps to prevent and remedy adverse impacts on security of tenure. For example, in 2013, the Coca-Cola Company responded to a global campaign, "Sugar Rush", launched by Oxfam urging food and beverage companies to respect land rights by committing to a "plan of action to prevent and address land grabs and other land controversies in [its] supply chain". The company committed to conducting human rights impact assessments; public disclosure of suppliers; adherence to the principle of free, prior and informed consent for all communities; resolution of land disputes through appropriate grievance mechanisms; and working with suppliers on corrective action and terminating the relationship if such action is not taken.
- 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
- Year
- 2014
- Date modified
- Sep 21, 2020
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. 76j (i)
- Paragraph text
- [The Special Rapporteur recommends that the urban rights agenda should:] The implementation of an urban rights agenda must include the following baseline human rights requirements: (i) A commitment to realize the right to adequate housing with clear goals and timelines for: a. Reducing and ultimately eliminating homelessness; b. Ensuring security of tenure and prevention of all forced evictions; c. Providing the full protection of law for residents of informal settlements; d. Ensuring access to adequate housing for all, including for residents of informal settlements;
- 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
- Year
- 2015
- Date modified
- Sep 21, 2020
Paragraph
Guiding Principles on security of tenure for the urban poor 2014, para. 75
- Paragraph text
- In this regard, multilateral and bilateral development and finance agencies, including export credit agencies, should adopt binding safeguard policies on resettlement and security of tenure that aim to give effect to the right to adequate housing. While the World Bank, the International Finance Corporation, regional development agencies and some export credit agencies have commendably adopted policies on resettlement, these safeguards and their implementation should be strengthened to reflect human rights standards and extended to protect and promote security of tenure.
- 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
- Social & Cultural Rights
- Year
- 2014
- Date modified
- Sep 21, 2020
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. 64
- Paragraph text
- Inadequate housing, homelessness and the informal settlements in cities must be addressed not only as a failure of housing and upgrading programmes but primarily as a failure of existing laws to ensure human rights. Residents of informal settlements lack both housing structures and basic legal protections, such as security of tenure, health and safety protections and entitlements to services. They are deprived not only of housing but of the protections afforded by the rule of law, which in turn makes them vulnerable to further deprivations.
- 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
- Year
- 2015
- Date modified
- Sep 21, 2020
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. 59
- Paragraph text
- When visiting residents of informal settlements, one is invariably struck by the human capacity to create vibrant communities with dignity and beauty despite the gross lack of almost everything. This capacity can be better harnessed; residents of informal settlements usually can identify the structural causes of their conditions, and they know well their needs and the barriers to meeting their needs. Frequently, they have a vision for their future and the future of their communities and can develop effective and targeted solutions. Engaging residents to participate in realizing their right to adequate housing is consistent with a human rights framework. For this to happen, local and national governments must be willing to recognize these communities as legitimate participants in urban democracy and as drivers of their own well-being.
- 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
- Year
- 2015
- Date modified
- Sep 21, 2020
Paragraph
Guiding Principles on security of tenure for the urban poor 2014, para. 48
- Paragraph text
- Measures to regulate financial markets and institutions. The deregulation of financial markets, along with policies prioritizing homeownership, has had adverse impacts on many urban-poor households. Sub-prime loans, payment defaults and foreclosures have led to tenure insecurity and evictions in several countries. Often, financial institutions, including microcredit institutions, charge higher interest rates to the poor to mitigate the heightened risk of default. In some cases, lenders have aggressively targeted low-income households for loans with exploitative terms, without explaining the terms and conditions, and ignoring their ability to repay. States should prohibit predatory lending practices and adopt regulations to ensure that mortgage payments are commensurate with income levels and do not compromise the satisfaction of other basic needs. Regulations should also mandate the full disclosure and communication of loan terms to applicants in accessible formats and languages.
- 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
- Poverty
- Year
- 2014
- Date modified
- Sep 21, 2020
Paragraph
Guiding Principles on security of tenure for the urban poor 2014, para. 36
- Paragraph text
- There are legitimate circumstances in which resettlement in a manner consistent with international human rights law may be appropriate to protect the health and safety of inhabitants exposed to natural disasters or environmental hazards, or to preserve critical environmental resources. However, the misuse of regulations aimed at protecting public health and safety or the environment to justify eviction of poor households in the absence of genuine risk, or when other options are available, is contrary to international human rights law.
- 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
- Year
- 2014
- Date modified
- Sep 21, 2020
Paragraph
Guiding Principles on security of tenure for the urban poor 2014, para. 30
- Paragraph text
- States should work with settlement communities to recognize and secure their tenure arrangements (both in situ or in preparation for resettlement). Relevant authorities should facilitate people-driven settlement mapping and enumerations to gather settlement and household data, using both oral and written evidence. States should encourage and enable community organization and mobilization throughout this process, and remove any impediments to freedom of assembly and association. Any community-level negotiation with the State should only occur through legitimate representatives of the community. All relevant actors should ensure that marginalized groups within the community meaningfully participate in the process. The participation of such groups, including tenants, whose rights and interests are often ignored, should be supported.
- 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)
- Movement
- Social & Cultural Rights
- Year
- 2014
- Date modified
- Sep 21, 2020
Paragraph
Guiding Principles on security of tenure for the urban poor 2014, para. 43
- Paragraph text
- Audits of unused land and housing and assessments of housing needs. An audit of unused and underutilized land, housing and buildings, both public and private, should be conducted concurrently with an assessment of the housing needs of the urban poor, including homeless persons, with the objective of matching availability with spatial needs. The assessment of current and anticipated housing needs should take into account patterns of urbanization and trends in migration, population growth and ageing. In South Africa, for example, the City of Cape Town was ordered by the High Court to conduct an audit of unused land plots to accommodate people facing eviction.
- 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)
- Movement
- Poverty
- Social & Cultural Rights
- Year
- 2014
- Date modified
- Sep 21, 2020
Paragraph
Guiding Principles on security of tenure for the urban poor 2014, para. 15
- Paragraph text
- In addition to public and non-market rental options, States should promote private rental for the urban poor, including through policies to expand rental-housing stock. Such policies include tax incentives to owners, guarantees or insurance schemes against non-payment of rent, and the provision of grants or low-interest loans to landlords to improve dilapidated housing units on the condition that they rent to low-income tenants. A Government incentive programme in New Jersey, United States of America, for example, provides grants to landlords to provide safe, suitable and affordable housing for low and moderate-income residents. In Slovakia, subsidies are provided for the construction of rental apartments for low-income groups, including for socially excluded Roma communities. Housing allowances for low-income tenants should also be considered.
- 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
- Year
- 2014
- Date modified
- Sep 21, 2020
Paragraph
Reflection on work undertaken in first 14 years of the mandate; outline of opportunities and priorities 2014, para. 21
- Paragraph text
- Over the past two decades, the understanding of the right to adequate housing in international human rights has benefited significantly from activities carried out at the national level. National movements and campaigns have emerged to address fundamental issues related to housing, including: sustainable development, land rights, security of tenure, homelessness, large-scale development projects, mega events, the erosion of social housing, the impact of the financial crisis, and the denial of services essential for the adequacy of housing.
- 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
- Social & Cultural Rights
- Year
- 2014
- Date modified
- Sep 21, 2020
Paragraph
Reflection on work undertaken in first 14 years of the mandate; outline of opportunities and priorities 2014, para. 69
- Paragraph text
- In coordination with relevant mandate holders, the Special Rapporteur wishes to take up the problem of laws that criminalize homelessness or activities associated with homelessness, such as sleeping in public places, and to consider the discriminatory attitudes and perceptions that often lie behind such laws. In this regard, the Special Rapporteur will explore in some depth the stigmatization and discrimination often suffered by the homeless or those with other housing status (for example, "squatters", "slum dwellers" and "public/social housing tenants"), and will build upon the previous work of mandate holders, including the report of the Special Rapporteur on extreme poverty and human rights on the penalization of people living in poverty (A/66/265) and the report of the Special Rapporteur on the human right to safe drinking water and sanitation on stigma and the realization of the right to safe drinking water and sanitation (A/HRC/21/42).
- 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
- Social & Cultural Rights
- Water & Sanitation
- Year
- 2014
- Date modified
- Sep 21, 2020
Paragraph
Mapping and framing security of tenure 2013, para. 74
- Paragraph text
- And while central and local authorities are primarily responsible to ensure that land and housing policies are respectful of the right to adequate housing, development and humanitarian agencies also have a significant role to play. Agencies must show due diligence to avoid being unwittingly complicit in human rights violations. In addition, urban developers, investors and national and international finance institutions may contribute to a more inclusive urban growth, but can also have an adverse impact on the rights of urban poor and other groups, and be complicit in forced evictions and land grabbing. Their particular impact on security of tenure should be assessed against the Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights (A/HRC/17/31, annex).
- 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
- Social & Cultural Rights
- Year
- 2013
- Date modified
- Sep 21, 2020
Paragraph
Mapping and framing security of tenure 2013, para. 34
- Paragraph text
- In developing countries, Governments were encouraged to undertake individual land titling programmes as a key means of not only increasing tenure security, but also of facilitating access to formal credit and reducing poverty. The underlying assumption was that secure tenure-understood as having proper titles-increased housing investment. Also influential was the claim of a direct correlation between property ownership and affluence in the West and the lack of it in developing countries. Consequently, home ownership rates worldwide have been generally climbing since the 1950s.
- 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
- Year
- 2013
- Date modified
- Sep 21, 2020
Paragraph
Mapping and framing security of tenure 2013, para. 52
- Paragraph text
- The above questions, as well as others discussed in subsections C and D of the present section, could be discussed with respect to a number of situations, individuals and groups. One such group is inhabitants of informal settlements. Guidance so far has focused on protection against forced evictions. More broadly, what should States do to ensure that all inhabitants of informal settlements enjoy security of tenure, irrespective of their legal status under national law? What types of minimum measures, as well as measures of progressive realization, should States take? Is there an obligation to give legal recognition to such settlements, and if so what are the implications for rights of tenure? Should any distinction be made under international human rights law as to whether these settlers are on public or private land (a distinction that is often accorded central importance in national law)? And should the threshold of protection be higher in situations of long-established communities and historic acquiescence of the authorities to their presence?
- 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
- Year
- 2013
- Date modified
- Sep 21, 2020
Paragraph
Analysis of two alternative housing policies: rental and collective housing 2013, para. 37
- Paragraph text
- Such examples demonstrate that it is possible to design rent regulation and tenancy protection mechanisms that do not distort or discourage the private rental market but actually encourage it. A well-regulated rental market can promote the goals of protecting tenants, particularly low income, and encouraging rental housing simultaneously. On the other hand, the elimination of rent controls and the easing of eviction procedures, has rarely led to more investment in the rental market but has actually skewed the market in the direction of homeownership.
- 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
- Social & Cultural Rights
- Year
- 2013
- Date modified
- Sep 21, 2020
Paragraph
Mapping and framing security of tenure 2013, para. 10
- Paragraph text
- The United Nations Settlements Programme (UN-Habitat) provides data on "slums", the word it has adopted to define such settlements. One UN-Habitat study estimated that 924 million people were living in slums in 2001; an estimate for 2010 placed the number at about 828 million. However, by 2010 tenure security was not taken into account in the UN-Habitat measurements of slums, hence the latter figure offers only a very small insight into the current extent of tenure insecurity in urban areas. Similarly, the revised indicator for the Millennium Development Goal target of improving the lives of 100 million slum dwellers (7 (d)) does not include security of tenure. While this particular target was reached, the question remains as to whether this result reflects the real situation of slums and informal settlements worldwide. Developing effective ways to measure tenure (in)security is an urgent imperative, including for the Millennium Development Goals and the United Nations development agenda beyond 2015.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on adequate housing as a component of the right to an adequate standard of living
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Person(s) affected
- All
- Year
- 2013
- Date modified
- Sep 21, 2020
Paragraph
Analysis of two alternative housing policies: rental and collective housing 2013, para. 26
- Paragraph text
- Rental arrangements provide a range of options to low-income households in terms of location, improved mobility (particularly related to employment opportunities) and flexibility in terms of dwelling type (smaller or shared units that are not available in other tenure forms). Rental tenure enables low-income households to avoid house price risks, indebtedness and exposure to falling capital values and carries a lower transaction cost than homeownership. Rental housing also provides a regular additional source of income for low-income small landlords, which can serve as a safety net against precarious employment or as a form of pension after retirement and old age. This is particularly important in the case of low-income settlements. However, construction of extensions for renting purposes is often discouraged by planning regulations and stringent building standards.
- 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
- Year
- 2013
- Date modified
- Sep 21, 2020
Paragraph
Analysis of two alternative housing policies: rental and collective housing 2013, para. 17
- Paragraph text
- Until the 1980s, slum dwellers and the urban poor had not been a target for financial services. However, in the 1980s private financial investors came to regard the poor as "bankable", and in the past 10 years, a growing number of housing microfinance programmes emerged offering loans to low-income households. Housing microfinance loans are much smaller than mortgages, are typically granted for shorter terms and are used mainly to finance progressive improvements to housing (for example, building sanitary amenities) and expansions to an existing dwelling.
- 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
- Poverty
- Year
- 2013
- Date modified
- Sep 21, 2020
Paragraph
Analysis of two alternative housing policies: rental and collective housing 2013, para. 9
- Paragraph text
- However, during the past two decades new mortgage products were designed specifically for borrowers with low incomes or poor credit history who were not eligible for regular mortgage finance, generating sub-prime loans. Although those lending policies were intended to enable access to credit for low-income households, they are extremely discriminatory: the poorer the credit taker, the higher the interest he/she has to pay. High-interest loans led to ever-increasing household indebtedness, economic insecurity, mortgage arrears and repossession rates. Poor households were forced to reduce expenditure on other essential needs, like food or medicines, in order to meet their housing debt.
- 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
- Poverty
- Year
- 2013
- Date modified
- Sep 21, 2020
Paragraph
Analysis of two alternative housing policies: rental and collective housing 2013, para. 5
- Paragraph text
- In her previous report (A/67/286, paras. 10-13), the Special Rapporteur highlighted how the deregulation, liberalization and globalization of housing finance have had major implications for housing and urban development, eventually leading to the global affordability and housing crisis we are witnessing today. Housing costs are disproportionately affecting the poor and in Europe represent an average of 41 per cent of the income of people at risk of poverty. The affordability crisis is compounded by the erosion, neglect and liberalization of non-market mechanisms for allocating housing resources, such as rental housing (public and private) and different forms of cooperative and collective ownership, among 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)
- Economic Rights
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Poverty
- Year
- 2013
- Date modified
- Sep 21, 2020
Paragraph
Analysis of two alternative housing policies: rental and collective housing 2013, para. 4
- Paragraph text
- A nearly unanimous belief in individual homeownership marginalized public rental housing; in many countries most of such housing was sold off. Similarly, the process led to radical changes in tenure structure; in many formerly planned economies owner-occupied housing now forms the bulk of the housing stock (for example, 96 per cent in Estonia and 77 per cent in Slovenia and more than 80 per cent in China). Even in countries where massive privatization did not occur, the ideological transfer of responsibility for the provision of housing to the market has been accompanied by the view that individual homeownership is the best tenure option and the centre of all housing policies. Some countries with a long tradition of broad-based social rental housing redefined their systems to promote ownership and "free market" principles. With subsidized accommodation less available, some households that might have otherwise rented were pushed towards homeownership.
- 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
- Social & Cultural Rights
- Year
- 2013
- Date modified
- Sep 21, 2020
Paragraph
Analysis of two alternative housing policies: rental and collective housing 2013, para. 53
- Paragraph text
- The collective structure also promotes affordability and security of tenure by enabling group loans or savings or, in some cases, assistance funds for temporary defaults by members. The collective organization and management of common areas and housing maintenance is also crucial to promoting affordability for low-income households. In the Scandinavian model, homeowners will typically fund 75-80 per cent of the cost of a housing development, while the rest is covered by a loan taken by the daughter cooperative. Cooperative homeowners also benefit from a 30 per cent tax reduction on interest expenditures on either cooperative shares or properties. Tenants may be evicted by the cooperative board only in a limited number of circumstances. In the case of community funds, interest rates on loans are usually relatively low and loan periods are often long, up to 25 years.
- 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
- Year
- 2013
- Date modified
- Sep 21, 2020
Paragraph
Analysis of two alternative housing policies: rental and collective housing 2013, para. 42
- Paragraph text
- The informal rental sector is a crucial component of the housing sector in developing countries and is also increasing today in many European cities, filling a gap created by the current housing policies that do not adequately address the housing needs of low-income households. Unfortunately, slum upgrading programmes have largely ignored the impact on tenants and have sometimes even failed to notice that most target settlements even contain tenants. In some cases, the upgrading programmes even prohibit owners from letting upgraded properties. Such situations are incompatible with the obligation of States to promote the right to adequate housing, inter alia, by facilitating the "self-help" efforts of disadvantaged groups. However, there are a few reliable programmes that include direct subsidies and cheap loans to owners who need to repair their properties and to owners who wish to extend their property to accommodate additional tenants.
- 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
- Year
- 2013
- Date modified
- Sep 21, 2020
Paragraph
The impact of housing finance policies on the right to adequate housing of those living in poverty 2012, para. 48
- Paragraph text
- Despite substantial Government budgetary investment and specific targeting of low-income households, capital-grant subsidies have partially promoted only the affordability aspect of the right to adequate housing (by substantially reducing housing deficits in some developing countries), at the expense of the broader aspects of habitability, location, availability of services and infrastructure and non-discrimination, which have been largely ignored. 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
- Person(s) affected
- N.A.
- Year
- 2012
- Date modified
- Sep 21, 2020
Paragraph
Post conflict and post disaster reconstruction and the right to adequate housing 2011, para. 43
- Paragraph text
- The Gujarat study points to some of the dangers of resorting to rushed, donor-driven programming, which can neglect the social capital of the affected residents, and to contractor-driven reconstruction projects, which are rarely developmental in nature. The authors conclude that "The drive to rebuild quickly inevitably leads early on to the decision to hire commercial contractors. At this point projects such as these usually cease to be developmental initiatives and become construction projects. The participation of residents is relegated to mixing concrete or making building blocks, or worse. […] Fundamentally, the contractor-driven approach to shelter is focused on the construction of housing units. Yet shelter is far more than that ". They also warn that: "When powerful external agents are driving the process within an affected village, the social capital present within long-standing communities can be ignored or even damaged".
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on adequate housing as a component of the right to an adequate standard of living
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Year
- 2011
- Date modified
- Sep 21, 2020
Paragraph
Post conflict and post disaster reconstruction and the right to adequate housing 2011, para. 26
- Paragraph text
- The outcome was a situation of widespread tenure insecurity and tensions over land, property and housing during the period of transitional government under the United Nations and in the first years of the Government of the newly independent Democratic Republic of Timor Leste. In spite of urgent calls from 1999 onwards from a variety of actors, and the formulation of proposals by various agencies and Government units, the key tenure issues were never fully addressed. This failure is seen as one of the drivers of the violence that subsequently occurred in 2006-7, in the course of which 150,000 people (15 per cent of the total population of Timor-Leste) fled their land and homes; 65 IDP camps and transitional shelters were set up; secondary occupants inhabited many of the abandoned properties; an estimated 6,000 houses in Dili were destroyed or severely damaged; and in rural areas there were cases of entire villages being burned down.
- 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
- Humanitarian
- Year
- 2011
- Date modified
- Sep 21, 2020
Paragraph
Post conflict and post disaster reconstruction and the right to adequate housing 2011, para. 31
- Paragraph text
- Similar lessons can be learnt from post-disaster situations. Disasters occur in a social context framed by complex issues of power, politics and longstanding vulnerability and poverty, including widespread tenure insecurity. Understanding this complexity is fundamental to developing and implementing successful responses. This is illustrated in the case of Hurricane Mitch in Honduras in October 1998. According to official estimates Hurricane Mitch left 21 cities severely damaged, 82,735 houses damaged, 66,188 houses destroyed and 44,150 people homeless. In addition 123 health centres and 531 roads were damaged and eight health centres and 189 bridges were destroyed. As a result, an estimated 1.5 million people were negatively affected.
- 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
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Humanitarian
- Poverty
- Year
- 2011
- Date modified
- Sep 21, 2020
Paragraph
The right to adequate housing in disaster relief efforts 2011, para. 59
- Paragraph text
- Similarly, the massive construction of transitional shelters might not always be required or appropriate and in some cases might impede durable solutions, such as in dense, urban settings where people might be prevented from incrementally building permanent housing due to lack of space. The production of these shelters might unintentionally divert resources from the reconstruction of permanent housing and neighbourhoods, in a context of diminishing attention and aid flows over time. It is thus not uncommon, regrettably, for people to live in transitional shelters many years following a disaster (see A/HRC/13/20/Add.4, para. 31). States and international organizations should not automatically assume the need for transitional shelters without considering whether alternative solutions can be supported.
- 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)
- Humanitarian
- Year
- 2011
- Date modified
- Sep 21, 2020
Paragraph
The right to adequate housing in disaster relief efforts 2011, para. 58
- Paragraph text
- A focus on individual beneficiaries and on "deliverables" - food, shelters, health kits - as ends in themselves might divert from the fundamental responsibility to respect, protect and fulfil rights (to housing, water, health, for instance), and the requirement to think of the long term. In Haiti, it was reported that immediate needs had dominated the international community's response and that specific pledges to support permanent housing requirements had therefore been less significant. The Haiti Shelter Cluster of the Inter-Agency Standing Committee reported on the risks of institutionalizing camps and of consuming scarce resources in emergency measures at the expense of more durable permanent solutions were recognized.
- 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
- Health
- Humanitarian
- Year
- 2011
- Date modified
- Sep 21, 2020
Paragraph
The right to adequate housing in disaster relief efforts 2011, para. 17
- Paragraph text
- The earthquake in Haiti exacerbated and made visible a hitherto relatively invisible problem, namely, the dire conditions characterizing informal settlements in which the majority of the Port-au-Prince population lived. The settlements, as many others elsewhere, had been created spontaneously and had never been recognized formally by the authorities. They had no or little access to basic infrastructure and services. With the earthquake, many of the residents moved to camps, either because their homes or neighbourhoods had been destroyed or damaged, or in order to be able to receive food or medical assistance, to take part in cash-for-work programmes, to save on rent (in the case of renters) or in the hope of receiving a house.
- 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
- Year
- 2011
- Date modified
- Sep 21, 2020
Paragraph
The right to adequate housing in disaster relief efforts 2011, para. 14
- Paragraph text
- When Hurricane Katrina struck New Orleans in 2005, African Americans and poor people (with the two categories to a large extent blurred) bore the brunt of the devastation because, for the most part, they lived most often in the lower-lying, more flood-prone sections of the city. In addition large numbers of the metropolitan area's population (being generally poor) lacked the means to escape the flood. The particular impacts and costs of the hurricane were therefore intimately linked to pre existing social, economic and land use patterns, directly related to housing and urban planning policies.
- 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
- Year
- 2011
- Date modified
- Sep 21, 2020
Paragraph
The right to adequate housing in disaster relief efforts 2011, para. 41
- Paragraph text
- The destruction of much of the housing stock in New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina was also seen as an opportunity to fundamentally change the housing and urban characteristics of the city. Notably, the four largest public housing complexes in New Orleans (the "big 4"), mostly inhabited by African Americans, were demolished to give way to planned redevelopment of mixed-income communities and other uses. Although in some cases there may have been no feasible alternatives because of the severity of the damages, the demolitions were mainly justified as essential to the city's recovery and necessary for health and safety reasons. Problematically, the planned developments were to include a small number of public housing units compared to the total available before Hurricane Katrina. Their demolition was another obstacle preventing lower income residents from returning to New Orleans (see sect. III above).
- 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
- Health
- Year
- 2011
- Date modified
- Sep 21, 2020
Paragraph
The right to adequate housing in disaster relief efforts 2011, para. 39
- Paragraph text
- The 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami was seen by many as providing major opportunities for redevelopment, sometimes under the guise of public safety and disaster risk mitigation. In the tsunami's aftermath, zones prohibiting housing reconstruction along the coast (buffer zones) were in fact introduced in a number of countries affected by the tsunami; they ranged from 100 to 500 metres and, in some cases, if implemented fully, would have required the relocation of over 100,000 houses. The zones were purportedly declared to protect residents from future disasters. They also had major impacts on the livelihoods of residents, especially those who relied on the sea for a living.
- 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
- Humanitarian
- Year
- 2011
- Date modified
- Sep 21, 2020
Paragraph
The right to adequate housing in disaster relief efforts 2011, para. 28
- Paragraph text
- The Principles must also be read against the particular context in which they were developed. While drawing on a number of sources, they were shaped by the experience of formal restitution mechanisms operating at the time, in particular in Bosnia and Herzegovina - a context of largely formal registration of private property and of what Yugoslav law called "socially-owned" apartments. The restitution mechanism in Bosnia and Herzegovina, like others, has been criticized for doing little for those who did not own property or did not have recognized formal titles to them, and for being unable to deal with complex, informal systems of tenure with a plurality of customary, state or religious laws.
- 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
- Social & Cultural Rights
- Year
- 2011
- Date modified
- Sep 21, 2020
Paragraph
Responsibilities of local and other subnational governments in relation to the right to adequate housing 2015, para. 49
- Paragraph text
- The Constitutional Court of Colombia has also made important advances in that area. In 2004, in a ground-breaking ruling on the economic, social and cultural rights of internally displaced persons, the court ruled that there was an "unconstitutional state of affairs" as a result of the internal conflict. The Court also held the deteriorating housing conditions of internally displaced persons to be prima facie contrary to the Constitution. The national Government was ordered to implement a number of measures, including a housing plan that ensured local institutions provided equal benefits for displaced persons. In a follow-up ruling in 2006, the Court ordered relevant municipalities to organize a working group to review the housing policies in each jurisdiction, and to develop plans and programmes with direct participation of displaced persons, and with representatives of the National Human Rights Institution. The Court remained seized of the case, receiving trimestral reports from the different levels of government.
- 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
- Social & Cultural Rights
- Person(s) affected
- Persons on the move
- Year
- 2015
- Date modified
- Feb 14, 2020
Paragraph
Migration and the right to adequate housing 2010, para. 24
- Paragraph text
- States have an immediate obligation to ensure non-discrimination in the enjoyment of economic, social and cultural rights, including the right to adequate housing, regardless of their level of development, in order to reduce existing inequalities (see E/1991/23, annex III, para. 1). The obligation of non-discrimination requires the equitable allocation of resources and services to ensure the realization of the right to adequate housing to all, and is not subject to progressive realization. It entails prioritizing the needs of marginalized and disadvantaged groups; eliminating laws, policies and practices that disproportionately affect the right to adequate housing of certain groups; incorporating equality and non-discrimination principles in all legislation and policies; and adopting special measures to counter embedded discrimination and inequalities against particular groups. States have no justification for not protecting vulnerable groups from housing-related discrimination, as the obligation to prohibit discrimination is binding on all States even in times of severe resource constraints (see E/1991/23, para. 12, and E/C.12/GC/20, para. 13).
- 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
- 2010
- Date modified
- Feb 14, 2020
Paragraph
Reflection on work undertaken in first 14 years of the mandate; outline of opportunities and priorities 2014, para. 70
- Paragraph text
- The causes of homelessness and inadequate housing are multifarious, interrelated and complex. They include not only forced evictions and conflict, but also many other structural issues, such as inadequate services and infrastructure; barriers to access to credit; land speculation and zoning; displacement and migration; environmental degradation; and rapid urbanization and the development of megacities. Tackling the causes of homelessness often requires a multifaceted approach that relies on comprehensive and coordinated strategies, and is implemented in a collaborative fashion with various levels of government and relevant stakeholders. What is needed, as a starting point, is the articulation of key principles through which multiple policies and programmes can achieve a unified purpose and a coherent approach. The Special Rapporteur believes that a human rights approach to adequate housing and homelessness has much to offer in this regard and, if implemented, can be transformational, resulting in real change rather than a temporary fix.
- 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
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Movement
- Social & Cultural Rights
- Person(s) affected
- Persons on the move
- Year
- 2014
- Date modified
- Feb 14, 2020
Paragraph
The right to life and the right to adequate housing: the indivisibility and interdependence between these rights 2016, para. 37
- Paragraph text
- The Committee's recognition in these cases that deportation into homelessness may constitute cruel and inhuman treatment or punishment, and that victims of homelessness in this context are entitled to a remedy, is significant. It is equally important, however, to ensure access to adjudication and remedy for those who experience the same deprivations of homelessness resulting from inaction or neglect within a State's own borders. In A.H.G and Jasin, the Committee considered the effects of widespread and systemic violations of the right to security and dignity. However, this consideration remained within the negative rights framework of prohibited "treatment" or "punishment". That framework is not conducive to hearing the substantive claim to a life of dignity, security and inclusion advanced by people with disabilities or women escaping violence, who do not see the fulfilment of their human rights merely as freedom from treatment or punishment but more fundamentally as a right to a place to live in dignity and security.
- 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
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Persons with disabilities
- Women
- Year
- 2016
- Date modified
- Feb 14, 2020
Paragraph
The right to adequate housing of persons with disabilities 2017, para. 48
- Original document
- Paragraph text
- The Special Rapporteur also emphasizes that reasonable accommodation in housing is often linked to systemic patterns of discrimination and imbalances in power “which result in a society being designed well for some and not for others”. The Supreme Court of Canada warned that reasonable accommodation claims should not be allowed to shield systemic discrimination from scrutiny or leave in place imbalances in power that have led to the neglect of the needs or perspectives of marginalized groups in the design of policies. It is important to ask, in each individual case, not only what is required by the individual person with a disability to ensure equality, but also why the housing system created the need for individual accommodation in the first place. Requests for modifications of buildings or housing policies are usually only made because those requirements were not adequately considered when buildings or policies were designed in the first place. Persons with disabilities must be empowered to challenge housing, planning and zoning, social protection and justice systems that fail to meet their needs and thus deny them access to adequate housing.
- 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
- Persons with disabilities
- Year
- 2017
- Date modified
- Feb 14, 2020
Paragraph
The right to adequate housing of persons with disabilities 2017, para. 41
- Original document
- Paragraph text
- Article 9 should also be read in conjunction with the obligation to progressively realize the right to adequate housing under article 28. As Gerard Quinn observed, “many of these obligations will require resources and extensive systemic change — all subject to the overall obligation of progressive achievement contained in article 4.2 with respect to socioeconomic rights”. The obligations of States under article 9 can be seen as components of the requirement to immediately implement inclusive rights-based strategies for the realization of the right to housing. Both housing strategies and plans for the implementation of accessibility must establish definite time frames, allocate adequate resources, prescribe the duties of the public authorities, including regional and local authorities, and private actors and ensure participation and consultation with those affected. Ensuring that any new housing is developed in accordance with barrier-free design requirements is an immediate obligation of States. States must also adopt, as quickly as possible, legislation and plans to ensure that barriers in existing housing are removed over time.
- 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
- N.A.
- Year
- 2017
- Date modified
- Feb 14, 2020
Paragraph
The right to adequate housing of persons with disabilities 2017, para. 15
- Paragraph text
- Institutionalization is a clear example of how violations of the right to housing occur when disability is misconstrued as a medical condition. Removing persons with disabilities from the general population and subjecting them to isolation and extreme social control is rationalized on the basis that they are being provided with “treatment” or “care”. Institutionalization often combines the worst living conditions with severe deprivation of liberty and cruel and inhuman treatment, including physical and sexual abuse. Conditions are invariably overcrowded, with limited or no access to sanitation and hygiene facilities, as has been documented in countries including Guatemala, Indonesia and Mexico. Residents in institutions and institution-like settings are often precluded from having outside social or family relations and deprived of choices about activities, social relationships, sexuality and identity. Persons with psychosocial or intellectual disabilities are at highest risk of being institutionalized forcefully and, outside formal institutions, are often subjected to extreme levels of institution-like control in privately operated rooming houses or “halfway” houses.
- 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
- Health
- Social & Cultural Rights
- Water & Sanitation
- Person(s) affected
- Persons with disabilities
- Year
- 2017
- Date modified
- Feb 14, 2020
Paragraph
The right to life and the right to adequate housing: the indivisibility and interdependence between these rights 2016, para. 73
- Paragraph text
- States must address issues of inadequate housing and homelessness and name them as core human rights issues linked to the right to life - in domestic law and policy and in international initiatives, including the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and the New Urban Agenda. States must also conduct a thorough examination of legislation, court practice and public policies to ensure that the right to life is not restricted to a negative rights framework. States must formally recognize that the right to life includes the right to a place to live in dignity and security, free of violence, and ensure access to justice for all victims of violations of the right to life, including those linked to homelessness and inadequate housing. Governments must ensure the effective integration of housing policy and social protection with human rights frameworks, mechanisms and institutions, so that housing policy is properly framed around the implementation of core human rights obligations, and access to effective remedies is incorporated in programme design and 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)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Social & Cultural Rights
- Person(s) affected
- All
- Year
- 2016
- Date modified
- Feb 14, 2020
Paragraph
Responsibilities of local and other subnational governments in relation to the right to adequate housing 2015, para. 29
- Paragraph text
- In that regard, States have developed internal procedures for engaging subnational governments in periodic reporting on housing rights and related issues. In some cases, local governments have made direct written submissions to treaty bodies. National human rights institutions have also played an increasingly important role in periodic reviews, acting as catalysts for improved engagement of subnational governments with review processes. Where subnational representatives have participated directly in periodic reviews, they have been welcomed. Overall, however, subnational governments may experience the treaty review process only indirectly and remotely. While they may be asked by national Governments to provide information for reports, they often receive little direct feedback on positive measures they have adopted and may not hear about concerns and recommendations relevant to their areas of responsibility once the review is completed. As a participant in the expert consultation noted: "The more local the government, the further it is from Geneva".
- 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
- N.A.
- Year
- 2015
- Date modified
- Feb 14, 2020
Paragraph
The right to life and the right to adequate housing: the indivisibility and interdependence between these rights 2016, para. 36
- Paragraph text
- Similarly, in Jasin v. Denmark (see CCPR/C/114/D/2360/2014) the Committee considered the effects of homelessness in the context of a single mother facing deportation to Italy. Osman Jasin had fled for her life from a violent husband in Somalia and was rescued by the Italian Coastguard while crossing the Mediterranean. In Italy, she tried without success to find housing, lived in the street with her one-year-old daughter, sleeping in railway stations and marketplaces. Ms. Jasin and her daughter left Italy to seek asylum in the Netherlands, but were returned to Italy, where she again lived in the street with her two-year-old daughter, sleeping in railway stations during a pregnancy. She was denied medical assistance during the birth of her second child because she had no address. When she was unable to pay to renew her Italian residency permit, she travelled to Denmark. The Committee found that returning her and her children to Italy would constitute cruel and inhuman treatment because they would likely become homeless again.
- 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
- Movement
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Families
- Year
- 2016
- Date modified
- Feb 14, 2020
Paragraph
Responsibilities of local and other subnational governments in relation to the right to adequate housing 2015, para. 21a
- Paragraph text
- [The Special Rapporteur has identified a number of common challenges experienced at the local level with respect to the implementation of the right to adequate housing:] Inadequate resources: The scarcity of financial resources, or the limited ability to tap into other funding sources besides national budget allocations, is a primary concern for local authorities with respect to the implementation of the right to adequate housing. While the responsibility for housing has been put in the hands of local or other subnational governments, resources to meet their housing rights obligations have not similarly flowed. Moreover, funding from national governments for local programmes is often not responsive to changing needs or crisis situations at the local level. Lack of resources can lead subnational governments to make decisions that negatively affect the realization of the right to adequate housing. For example, at the municipal level it is not uncommon for available land or property to be used as an asset for real estate development rather than for the provision of adequate housing.
- 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
- N.A.
- Year
- 2015
- Date modified
- Feb 14, 2020
Paragraph
Responsibilities of local and other subnational governments in relation to the right to adequate housing 2015, para. 59
- Paragraph text
- Over the last 15 years, the "human rights city" has emerged as an important initiative involving mayors, city officials, civic and human rights non-governmental organizations and experts and community-based organizations in cities across the world. The Gwangju Declaration on Human Rights City, adopted in 2011, defined a human rights city as "both a local community and a socio-political process in a local context where human rights play a key role as fundamental values and guiding principles". Accordingly, local government, parliament, civil society, private sector organizations and other stakeholders work together to improve the quality of life for all inhabitants in a spirit of partnership based on human rights standards and norms. The Declaration emphasizes that a legal basis - city ordinances and legal instruments such as human rights charters and legal organizations - should be established. Human rights cities also acknowledge that implementation is more important than policymaking and that effective accountability mechanisms need to be developed to make city government accountable to its commitments.
- 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
- N.A.
- Year
- 2015
- Date modified
- Feb 14, 2020
Paragraph
The right to life and the right to adequate housing: the indivisibility and interdependence between these rights 2016, para. 55
- Paragraph text
- The Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women has had the opportunity to consider in its jurisprudence the obligation of States parties to address threats to women linked to lack of housing. In Ms. A.T. v. Hungary, the Committee considered the circumstances of a woman with two children who was viciously beaten by her husband and who feared for her life. She was unable to move to a shelter because there were no spaces available to accommodate her child, who had a disability. The domestic courts refused to grant A.T. possession of her home, in consideration of the property rights of her husband. The Committee held that women's human rights to life and to physical and mental integrity could not be superseded by other rights, including the right to property and the right to privacy. The Committee recommended that Hungary take positive measures to remedy the situation of A.T., to ensure better protection for women more generally and to ensure that A.T. was given a safe home in which to live with her children, as well as child support, legal assistance and reparation for the violations of her 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
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Families
- Women
- Year
- 2016
- Date modified
- Feb 14, 2020
Paragraph
Responsibilities of local and other subnational governments in relation to the right to adequate housing 2015, para. 46
- Paragraph text
- Housing is an area of concurrent national and provincial competence in South Africa, but the Constitution requires the national and provincial governments to assign responsibilities to a municipality "if that matter would most effectively be administered locally and the municipality has the capacity to administer it". Within that context, the Constitutional Court established that measures taken to realize the right to adequate housing must be "reasonable" - that they must be comprehensive, coherent, flexible and effective; have due regard for those in poverty and deprivation; utilize available resources; be free of bureaucratic inefficiency or onerous regulations and ultimately be capable of realizing the right to adequate housing. The Court also emphasized the fact that responsibilities must be clearly allocated to the different spheres of government with appropriate financial and human resources, and that local governments have an obligation to ensure that services are provided in a sustainable manner. The Court held that the housing programme had failed to adequately prioritize those in the greatest need.
- 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
- Social & Cultural Rights
- Person(s) affected
- All
- Year
- 2015
- Date modified
- Feb 14, 2020
Paragraph
The right to life and the right to adequate housing: the indivisibility and interdependence between these rights 2016, para. 17
- Paragraph text
- There are approximately 232 million international migrants (Department of Economic and Social Affairs of the United Nations, 2013) and 740 million internal migrants (United Nations Development Programme, 2009) in the world today. In many instances, migrants face discrimination and social exclusion in new communities, denying them access to a secure place to live. Migrants find themselves living in "first generation" informal settlements made up predominantly of recent arrivals, particularly in rapidly growing cities and megacities. These settlements tend to have the most deplorable conditions, lacking any official recognition by State authorities. Residents can be found living on a long-term basis in tents or other non-durable housing, with the constant threat of eviction, without adequate access to food or livelihoods and without any basic services, including water, sanitation, electricity and garbage collection. In Accra, Ghana, for example, a study revealed that 94 per cent of migrants in a settlement did not have toilet facilities.
- 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
- Movement
- Social & Cultural Rights
- Water & Sanitation
- Person(s) affected
- Persons on the move
- Year
- 2016
- Date modified
- Feb 14, 2020
Paragraph
Financialization of housing and the right to adequate housing 2017, para. 35
- Paragraph text
- The dominant impact of wealth and private investment has also created and perpetuated spatial segregation and inequality in cities. In South Africa, for example, the impact of private investment in the urban core of cities has sustained the discriminatory patterns of the apartheid area, with wealthier, predominantly white households occupying areas close to the centre and poorer black South Africans living on the peripheries of cities. That "spatial mismatch", relegating poor black households to homeownership in peri-urban areas where employment opportunities are scarce, rather than rentals in the urban core, for example, has entrenched their poverty and cemented inequality. Similar patterns of racial displacement from urban centres and segregation in evidence in large cities in the United States have led to more severe impacts of financialization and the mortgage crisis being experienced by African-American households. Financialization also creates gender segregation. In Australia, analysis has shown that average-income single female workers can afford to live in only one suburb of Melbourne and cannot afford to live anywhere in Sydney.
- 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
- Person(s) affected
- Women
- Year
- 2017
- Date modified
- Feb 14, 2020
Paragraph
Financialization of housing and the right to adequate housing 2017, para. 77b
- Paragraph text
- [The Special Rapporteur suggests that the way forward requires a shift to take hold so that States ensure that all investment in housing recognizes its social function and States' human rights obligations in that regard. That requires a transformation of the relationship between the State and the financial sector, whereby human rights implementation becomes the overriding goal, not a subsidiary or neglected obligation. The Special Rapporteur believes that can be achieved with more constructive engagement and dialogue between States, human rights actors, international and domestic financial regulatory bodies, private equity firms and major investors. In order to create those new conversations and achieve that shift, the Special Rapporteur recommends the following:] Strategies developed by States and local governments to achieve target 11.1 of the Sustainable Development Goals and the New Urban Agenda should include a full range of taxation, regulatory and planning measures in order to re-establish housing as a social good, promote an inclusive housing system and prevent speculation and excessive accumulation of wealth;
- 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
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Social & Cultural Rights
- Person(s) affected
- N.A.
- Year
- 2017
- Date modified
- Feb 14, 2020
Paragraph
Responsibilities of local and other subnational governments in relation to the right to adequate housing 2015, para. 20
- Paragraph text
- The experiences of decentralization in relation to human rights and the right to adequate housing, however, have been mixed. As Paul Lundberg noted, "the issue of human rights has not figured prominently in the ongoing discussion on decentralization". Reference to human rights obligations or the right to adequate housing is conspicuously absent, even from the International Guidelines on Decentralisation and Access to Basic Services for all and the European Charter of Local Self-Government. Decentralization and local governance initiatives from international or regional financial institutions such as the International Monetary Fund and the Inter-American Development Bank, United Nations agencies such as the United Nations Development Programme, as well as from associations of local governments, have focused on economic and political dimensions and participatory rights linked to decentralization. However, they have largely ignored the question of how States' human rights obligations in relation to the right to adequate housing are to be applied to local governments that have taken on key responsibilities for programmes and policies.
- 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
- N.A.
- Year
- 2015
- Date modified
- Feb 14, 2020
Paragraph
The right to life and the right to adequate housing: the indivisibility and interdependence between these rights 2016, para. 32
- Paragraph text
- With the assignment of the right to life to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, the Human Rights Committee was charged with interpreting its universal meaning and clarifying State obligations to respect, protect and fulfil the right to life. Recent human rights treaties include the right to life as it applies to particular groups, specifically children, migrants and persons with disabilities. No doubt the interpretation of these provisions by treaty bodies will advance the understanding of the right to life in a manner that is informed by the lived experience of these different groups. To date, however, only the Human Rights Committee has adopted a general comment on this right, and all of the substantive jurisprudence on the right to life at the international level adjudicating allegations of violations of the right to life has emerged from cases under the Optional Protocol to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights. In the light of this leading role, the Committee's jurisprudence requires considered attention.
- 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
- Social & Cultural Rights
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Persons on the move
- Persons with disabilities
- Year
- 2016
- Date modified
- Feb 14, 2020
Paragraph
Homelessness as a global human rights crisis that demands an urgent global response 2016, para. 87
- Paragraph text
- Homelessness disproportionately affects particular groups, including women, young people, children, indigenous peoples, people with disabilities, migrants and refugees, the working poor, and lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people, each in different ways, but with common structural causes. These include: (a) the retreat by all levels of government from social protection and social housing and the privatization of services, infrastructure, housing and public space; (b) the abandonment of the social function of land and housing; (c) the failure to address growing inequalities in income, wealth and access to land and property; (d) the adoption of fiscal and development policies that support deregulation and real estate speculation and prevent the development of affordable housing options; and (e), in the face of urbanization, the marginalization and mistreatment of those who are most precariously housed in informal settlements, living in temporary overcrowded structures, without access to water, sanitation or other basic services and living under the constant threat of eviction.
- 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
- Social & Cultural Rights
- Water & Sanitation
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Ethnic minorities
- LGBTQI+
- Women
- Youth
- Year
- 2016
- Date modified
- Feb 14, 2020
Paragraph
Financialization of housing and the right to adequate housing 2017, para. 77g
- Paragraph text
- [The Special Rapporteur suggests that the way forward requires a shift to take hold so that States ensure that all investment in housing recognizes its social function and States' human rights obligations in that regard. That requires a transformation of the relationship between the State and the financial sector, whereby human rights implementation becomes the overriding goal, not a subsidiary or neglected obligation. The Special Rapporteur believes that can be achieved with more constructive engagement and dialogue between States, human rights actors, international and domestic financial regulatory bodies, private equity firms and major investors. In order to create those new conversations and achieve that shift, the Special Rapporteur recommends the following:] International, regional and national human rights bodies should devote more attention to the issue of financialization and clarify for States, through constructive dialogue during periodic reviews and in consideration of individual cases, their obligations in relation to the financialization of housing.
- 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
- N.A.
- Year
- 2017
- Date modified
- Feb 14, 2020
Paragraph
Migration and the right to adequate housing 2010, para. 57
- Paragraph text
- The living conditions of migrants housed by their employers, described above, fully applies to undocumented migrants in similar conditions. Indeed, because of their legal status, undocumented migrants are more likely to find themselves in this kind of working arrangement. Moreover, they are on many occasions subject to exploitative working conditions. Lacking formal recognition in the country of destination, undocumented migrants are unaccounted for and can often become victims of trafficking and slavery-like conditions. Cases have been widely reported of migrants whose employers steal their passports or national identity cards and force them to work and live in sweatshops, where they are housed in small overcrowded rooms and barred from leaving the premises. For example, in Argentina, migrants from neighbouring countries and their children have been found locked up and sleeping in small storerooms in the clandestine cloth factories in which they worked. It is worth recalling the responsibility of States to protect migrants who become trafficking victims from these hideous practices, as well as to prosecute and sanction the perpetrators and provide redress to the victims.
- 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
- Movement
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Persons on the move
- Year
- 2010
- Date modified
- Feb 14, 2020
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
- Date modified
- Feb 14, 2020
Paragraph
Women and their right to adequate housing 2012, para. 47
- Paragraph text
- For women, habitability of housing has been linked to protection against violence within the home. Therefore, the notion of habitability for women must itself be interpreted in a gender-sensitive way, ensuring that housing is safe for women. The notion of habitability must also be sensitive to women's disproportionate caregiving roles. These roles must be considered in the design of housing law, policy and programming. For example, in many parts of the world, it is women who cook and prepare meals. When cooking over open fires or traditional stoves fuelled by wood, animal dung or charcoal, it has been shown that women breathe in a mix of toxic pollutants and are particularly vulnerable to developing Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD). For women, this indoor smoke is responsible for half a million deaths each year, and millions more have their health suffer due to impaired breathing and respiratory disease. In the case of COPD, for example, one study in Xuanwei, China, where rates of lung cancer and COPD are strongly associated with household use of coal fires, researchers showed that simple measures, such as installing a chimney, dramatically reduced the incidence of COPD among women.
- 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
- Gender
- Health
- Person(s) affected
- Women
- Year
- 2012
- Date modified
- Feb 14, 2020
Paragraph
The right to adequate housing in disaster relief efforts 2011, para. 34
- Paragraph text
- Against this backdrop it is important to differentiate between two tasks. In the long term, there might be a need to formally record and strengthen ownership or tenure through legal reforms and other mechanisms such as land titling, thereby definitively resolving the ambiguous and uncertain situation in which many find themselves. In the short term, however, these means may not be the most appropriate to address reconstruction and recovery needs and to do so without reinforcing inequalities. Experience also suggests the enormous challenge of attempting to deal with the full spectrum of ownership/tenure and land reform issues right after disaster or conflict. The Government of Pakistan noted that an appreciation of the social, political, technical and legal complexities of land tenure issues and the fact that those were not confined to the disaster-affected areas was essential. In the short term, it remains nonetheless essential and opportune to assess pre-disaster tenure rights, through swift methods, in order to move effectively towards reconstruction and recovery in a way that ensures a minimum of tenure security to everyone and addresses some of the worse forms of inequality and insecurity.
- 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
- 2011
- Date modified
- Feb 14, 2020
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. 40
- Paragraph text
- In some cases, survival strategies of those who are homeless or have no access to land have been criminalized (see A/66/265). Public space has become contested space: rather than being designed to meet the needs of those who are homeless as well as others, public spaces have been designed to drive out the homeless. In many developed countries it has become common to enact legislation prohibiting, and sometimes criminalizing, activities such as "loitering", "panhandling", outdoor charity food services and sleeping in public spaces. Park benches are even designed to prevent homeless people from lying down. Marginalized groups - particularly street children and those who are homeless - are "cleared" from urban areas in order to attract new businesses, tourists and investors or to host mega events (see A/HRC/13/20). In these ways, many of those who have come to cities as a result of displacement or discrimination find themselves revictimized by further displacement and discrimination.
- 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
- Persons on the move
- Year
- 2015
- Date modified
- Feb 14, 2020
Paragraph
The impact of housing finance policies on the right to adequate housing of those living in poverty 2012, para. 29
- Paragraph text
- The discrepancy between income levels and soaring housing and rental prices coupled with unemployment led to increased payment default, foreclosures and homelessness. These processes were exacerbated by the adoption of legal and institutional adjustments aimed at facilitating foreclosure, which have been promoted in recent years as "imperatives for developing a housing finance system". The paradigm that promoted homeownership as the most secure form of tenure has been proven false, as increasing foreclosure rates have been one of the main results of the recent crises. In Spain, more than 350,000 foreclosures have occurred since 2007 and in 2011, about 212 foreclosures and 159 evictions occurred daily. The crisis has disproportionately affected the poorest and most vulnerable, who were the "last" to join the mortgage markets and the first to suffer the consequences of the crises owing to their low resilience to economic shocks and low repayment abilities. Recent research indicates that the majority (70 per cent) of defaults in Spain are related to the unemployment crisis and that 35 per cent of the foreclosed properties belong to migrants.
- 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
- Poverty
- Person(s) affected
- Persons on the move
- Year
- 2012
- Date modified
- Feb 14, 2020
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. 34
- Paragraph text
- In the Special Rapporteur's view, there is a real risk that the implementation framework for the sustainable development goals will remain exclusively focused on statistical measurement and assessment without the meaningful accountability, participation, legislative action or access to justice that is required for the realization of all human rights. International human rights standards regarding development-based displacement, allocation of maximum of available resources, the adoption of national and urban housing and homelessness strategies and the obligation to take immediate steps to address discrimination and inequality - all of which are key to the enjoyment of the right to housing - have thus far not received much attention in discussions. In general, the continued neglect of the right to adequate housing in the sustainable development goals creates well-founded concern that commitments made to the right to adequate housing at Habitat III might very well be sidelined.
- 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
- Movement
- Social & Cultural Rights
- Person(s) affected
- Persons on the move
- Year
- 2015
- Date modified
- Feb 14, 2020
Paragraph
Post conflict and post disaster reconstruction and the right to adequate housing 2011, para. 44
- Paragraph text
- In the case of East Timor discussed earlier, the importance and value of direct participation of the affected population in re-establishing a system of housing, land and property rights in the aftermath of the 1999 referendum was emphasized from an early stage. A 2000 report to the United Nations indicated that the majority of Timorese interviewed during a fact-finding study had confirmed the importance of involvement of customary local dispute resolution structures in future land dispute resolution and adjudication mechanisms, on the grounds of their persisting legitimacy in spite of decades of conflict and dispossession and also their role as a valuable source of "information, including details of boundaries, levels of rights and history of acquisition and loss ". On the basis of these submissions from a broad range of Timorese, the report recommended that where feasible, existing local dispute resolution structures should be used as a crucial first step in dealing with land, housing and property disputes. This mediation could commence "at any of a number of levels, right down to the level of family meetings".
- 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
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Social & Cultural Rights
- Person(s) affected
- Families
- Year
- 2011
- Date modified
- Feb 14, 2020
Paragraph
Post conflict and post disaster reconstruction and the right to adequate housing 2011, para. 23
- Paragraph text
- This recognition of a multiplicity of legitimate tenure forms, together with the obligation to offer protection to those holding them, is of great importance in developing responses to housing destruction or the displacement of residents. Security of tenure is essential for the realization of the right to adequate housing and has a great impact on location as another fundamental element of adequacy. Paradoxically, the absence of such security is often a pre-existing contributory cause of conflict and vulnerability to disaster. In trying to address housing rights in post-disaster and post-conflict situations, it is therefore important to investigate the tenure security challenges presented by those situations. Post-crisis responses to housing destruction and/or displacement that fail to take this into account are likely to be counterproductive, and could even themselves become drivers of future conflicts, dispossession and exacerbation of vulnerabilities. On the other hand, timely and decisive responses built on informed assessment and analysis of those underlying challenges can contribute significantly to strategies for restoration, reconstruction and development.
- 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)
- Humanitarian
- Social & Cultural Rights
- Person(s) affected
- Persons on the move
- Year
- 2011
- Date modified
- Feb 14, 2020
Paragraph
Women and their right to adequate housing 2012, para. 27
- Paragraph text
- In many countries, women are denied not only rights related to inheritance, but also their equal rights over marital property, effectively denying them any legal claim to housing whatsoever. The idea that rights over housing, land, property and inheritance fall exclusively within the male domain must be challenged. When looking at what works best for women, researchers have found that a full or modified community of property regimes which recognize joint rights with equal powers between spouses best protects women's right to adequate housing and to equality. The Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women in its recent concluding observations on Sri Lanka underscored this point when it noted "that discriminatory practices prevent women from acquiring ownership of land since only the 'head of household' is authorized to sign official documentation such as land ownership certificates and receive pieces of land from Government." In that case, the Committee urged the Government to abolish the concept of "head of household" in administrative practice and recognize joint or co-ownership of land, and to amend its national legislation to ensure joint or co-ownership.
- 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
- Women
- Year
- 2012
- Date modified
- Feb 14, 2020
Paragraph
Reflection on work undertaken in first 14 years of the mandate; outline of opportunities and priorities 2014, para. 34
- Paragraph text
- The Special Rapporteur will also consider ways in which the mandate can support access to justice in relation to all aspects of the right to adequate housing. She recognizes that ensuring access to justice, particularly with respect to claims involving the obligation of States to take positive measures towards the realization of the right to adequate housing, presents new challenges. Courts and human rights bodies need to be provided with reliable evidence concerning resource constraints and competing needs. More participatory approaches to the adjudication of rights need to ensure that all stakeholders, including marginalized groups, are able to have their voices heard. Governments need to put accountability mechanisms in place, and to work in partnership with claimants and other stakeholders to improve policies and ensure effective remedies. Researchers and international monitoring groups need to further develop methodologies for providing statistics and reliable indicators of compliance with all aspects of the right to adequate housing.
- 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
- 2014
- Date modified
- Feb 14, 2020
Paragraph
Post conflict and post disaster reconstruction and the right to adequate housing 2011, para. 41
- Paragraph text
- With the correct approach and support from the national government and outside agencies, the people directly affected by disasters and conflicts ought to remain directly involved despite the enormity of the challenges they face. This is particularly important in the areas of resettlement and reconstruction. The individuals, families and communities affected possess vital local knowledge and experience, and when working together can be an invaluable partner in designing and implementing creative solutions. Community-based reconstruction, linked to planning and reconstruction processes developed at the municipal and national levels, should be promoted wherever possible. The IASC guidelines accordingly advise agencies "In the planning and rehabilitation of housing and human settlements, [to] devise community-based strategies to maximize the participation of all sectors of affected communities (e.g. community housing teams). Local communities should be involved in decision-making regarding the location, design and infrastructure of housing and settlements to ensure that they are safe, habitable, accessible and culturally appropriate."
- 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
- Humanitarian
- Social & Cultural Rights
- Person(s) affected
- Families
- Year
- 2011
- Date modified
- Feb 14, 2020
Paragraph
Post conflict and post disaster reconstruction and the right to adequate housing 2011, para. 32
- Paragraph text
- While people from all economic groups suffered from the effects of the hurricane, the damage disproportionately affected the most marginalized sectors of the population - poor women, peasants, indigenous groups. Significantly, many of these had been living under insecure tenure conditions in irregular settlements and inadequate housing, located in vulnerable areas exposed to strong winds, flooding and landslides. Although evacuation orders were issued, many refused to leave their homes for fear of losing their belongings, with disastrous and often fatal consequences. Vulnerability and in particular tenure insecurity was both the cause and effect of the disaster for such families. In the absence of officially recognized tenure rights, people ended up living on the fringes in dangerous areas, which due to their location were often worst affected by the hurricane. Any post-disaster response measures intended to form the basis for longer-term recovery would therefore have needed to address pre-existing insecurity, in order to provide a basis for the full realization of the right to adequate housing.
- 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
- Humanitarian
- Social & Cultural Rights
- Person(s) affected
- Ethnic minorities
- Families
- Women
- Year
- 2011
- Date modified
- Feb 14, 2020
Paragraph
Post conflict and post disaster reconstruction and the right to adequate housing 2011, para. 33
- Paragraph text
- In the wake of Hurricane Mitch, a combination of factors militated against satisfying the most basic housing needs of the affected Honduran population, much less the full realization of their right to adequate housing. Most analyses of post-Mitch responses conclude that both the country's government and the national emergency management system (as represented by its main agency, COPECO) were not adequately prepared to respond to the need of the victims. On the positive side, Hurricane Mitch led to the arrival of significant human and financial resources. Post-disaster housing response initiatives represented unprecedented opportunities to "build back better". In particular, many women gained access to land and participation through some of these donor-funded responses who insisted that the deeds to all reconstructed houses bear the names of the female spouses (instead of the males), which was justified by the assumption that "women won't sell". Other projects compromised by proposing that post-disaster housing be registered under joint title and then established as family patrimony.
- 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)
- Humanitarian
- Social & Cultural Rights
- Person(s) affected
- Women
- Year
- 2011
- Date modified
- Feb 14, 2020
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
- Date modified
- Feb 14, 2020
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
- Date modified
- Feb 14, 2020
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. 65
- Paragraph text
- Obligations of States to maintain the rule of law are too often considered primarily in relation to legal protections of existing title to property or contractual economic relationships. Under the rule of law, however, fundamental human rights must be guaranteed, including the right to adequate housing. An urban rights agenda will require a more inclusive approach to the rule of law in cities than has been applied in the past, focused on the need to effectively address the circumstances of those who have had no access to legal title to land, housing or property. The right to housing must be fully incorporated within urban law as a right not only to physical and environmental aspects of housing but also to the equal protection of the law, with full protection of security of tenure, health and safety and entitlement to basic services, livelihood and cultural life. Laws and policies must be subject to ongoing review so as to adjust to emerging patterns of exclusion or to address previously unrecognized circumstances.
- 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
- Date modified
- Feb 14, 2020
Paragraph
Women and their right to adequate housing 2012, para. 21
- Paragraph text
- One area in which new policies adopted in recent years have increasingly protected women's right to adequate housing is within the context of domestic violence. In Europe, for example, the Commissioner for Human Rights of the Council of Europe issued a recommendation on the implementation of the right to housing in 2009, advocating the adoption and implementation of national housing strategies by all Council of Europe member States. Section 4.3.6. of the recommendation deals explicitly with women and women victims of violence, calling upon States "to protect women victims of violence through specific legal and policy initiatives including the provision of specialized emergency shelters and other alternative housing." Section 5 also urges States to adopt national housing strategies that "apply a gender perspective, identify disadvantaged and vulnerable groups and include positive measures for ensuring their effective enjoyment of the right to housing," and also to "adopt anti-violence provisions in housing legislation and policies and ensure that domestic violence laws include provisions to protect women's right to housing, including the right to privacy and security."
- 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
- Gender
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Women
- Year
- 2012
- Date modified
- Feb 14, 2020
Paragraph
Post conflict and post disaster reconstruction and the right to adequate housing 2011, para. 24
- Paragraph text
- According to the Independent Evaluation Group (IEG): "Post-disaster operations need to deal early and forcefully with land ownership issues. Where possible land titles should be regularized or a functional proxy for land title should be provided [...] Where such measures are not possible, alternative means need to be found to ensure that land is not seized outright or that fraudulent claims are not honoured. The local government must help prevent profiteering on land that is urgently needed for the reconstruction process." This assessment of urgency and need for forceful action is absolutely correct. However the emphasis on title regularization, with other forms of tenure covered by "functional proxy", is problematic. Care should be taken that this does not result in programmes of rushed or enforced commodification of land and housing; or a process of favouring formal title resulting in the weakening or pushing aside of legitimate alternative forms of tenure security, as has happened in the case of Cambodia, discussed later. Many other equally legitimate forms of tenure require recognition, protection and support in their own right.
- 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
- 2011
- Date modified
- Feb 14, 2020
Paragraph
Migration and the right to adequate housing 2010, para. 64
- Paragraph text
- Migrant domestic workers often live in their house of employment. Sometimes their visa requirements legally bind them to reside with their employers. In this context, migrant women are known frequently to endure unsafe and unhealthy living conditions and substandard accommodations, without essential facilities, insufficient space and lack of privacy or security. In some cases migrant workers are forced to sleep in the bathroom, kitchen or closet. Concerns have also been raised about the vulnerability of migrant domestic workers to domestic violence, sexual harassment, forced confinement and other abuse in their place of residence. Migrant women are all the more vulnerable when fear of eviction or deportation and lack of awareness about their rights prevent them from denouncing violence or unhealthy living conditions. When domestic workers report these abuses, the police have been known to dismiss their claims and return them to their employers. Migrant women victims of trafficking suffer further forms of abuse, often being confined in their workplace in degrading conditions, forced to work 20 hours a day, prevented from any external contact and receiving no salary (see also A/HRC/14/30, para. 55).
- 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
- Movement
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Persons on the move
- Women
- Year
- 2010
- Date modified
- Feb 14, 2020
Paragraph
The right to adequate housing of persons with disabilities 2017, para. 82a (xvi)
- Original document
- Paragraph text
- [In that regard, the Special Rapporteur offers the following recommendations:] [In consultation with persons with disabilities and their organizations, States should:] Ensure that local governments implement and adhere to the right to housing in all municipal action, including urban planning, zoning, planning of transportation and the production and maintenance of housing;
- 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
- Persons with disabilities
- Year
- 2017
- Date modified
- Feb 14, 2020
Paragraph
The right to adequate housing of persons with disabilities 2017, para. 82a (x)
- Original document
- Paragraph text
- [In that regard, the Special Rapporteur offers the following recommendations:] [In consultation with persons with disabilities and their organizations, States should:] Ensure that all persons with disabilities can exercise their right to legal capacity in any issue relating to the right to adequate housing, including to have access to and sign contracts for credit and leases;
- 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
- Person(s) affected
- Persons with disabilities
- Year
- 2017
- Date modified
- Feb 14, 2020
Paragraph
The right to adequate housing of persons with disabilities 2017, para. 82a (vii)
- Original document
- Paragraph text
- [In that regard, the Special Rapporteur offers the following recommendations:] [In consultation with persons with disabilities and their organizations, States should:] Address homelessness among persons with disabilities on an urgent basis and prioritize measures to address the circumstances of those living in informal settlements and homeless encampments;
- 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
- Person(s) affected
- Persons with disabilities
- Year
- 2017
- Date modified
- Feb 14, 2020
Paragraph
The right to adequate housing of persons with disabilities 2017, para. 82a (xi)
- Original document
- Paragraph text
- [In that regard, the Special Rapporteur offers the following recommendations:] [In consultation with persons with disabilities and their organizations, States should:] Ensure that the necessary support is provided to organizations of persons with disabilities to facilitate effective participation in all areas of housing policy and decision-making;
- 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
- Persons with disabilities
- Year
- 2017
- Date modified
- Feb 14, 2020
Paragraph
The right to adequate housing of persons with disabilities 2017, para. 82a (xii)
- Original document
- Paragraph text
- [In that regard, the Special Rapporteur offers the following recommendations:] [In consultation with persons with disabilities and their organizations, States should:] Establish an independent budgetary review mechanism to ensure that budget allocations for housing and related forms of support are consistent with the “maximum of available resources” standard;
- 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
- Person(s) affected
- Persons with disabilities
- Year
- 2017
- Date modified
- Feb 14, 2020
Paragraph
The right to adequate housing of persons with disabilities 2017, para. 82a (xiii)
- Original document
- Paragraph text
- [In that regard, the Special Rapporteur offers the following recommendations:] [In consultation with persons with disabilities and their organizations, States should:] Provide adequate financial and other support to persons with disabilities in a manner that ensures choice as to where to live and how support will be provided and that covers the full cost of housing and related expenses;
- 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
- Person(s) affected
- Persons with disabilities
- Year
- 2017
- Date modified
- Feb 14, 2020
Paragraph
The right to adequate housing of persons with disabilities 2017, para. 82b (ii)
- Original document
- Paragraph text
- [In that regard, the Special Rapporteur offers the following recommendations:] [Courts, tribunals and national human rights institutions should:] Ensure access to justice and effective accountability for all aspects of State obligations with respect to the right to housing of persons with disabilities, including budgetary allocations and the effectiveness of strategies and programmes;
- 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
- Person(s) affected
- Persons with disabilities
- Year
- 2017
- Date modified
- Feb 14, 2020
Paragraph
The right to adequate housing of persons with disabilities 2017, para. 82a (ii)
- Original document
- Paragraph text
- [In that regard, the Special Rapporteur offers the following recommendations:] [In consultation with persons with disabilities and their organizations, States should:] Ensure that non-discrimination provisions are based on substantive equality, recognizing positive obligations to address the systemic inequality in housing experienced by persons with disabilities;
- 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
- Person(s) affected
- Persons with disabilities
- Year
- 2017
- Date modified
- Feb 14, 2020
Paragraph
The right to adequate housing of persons with disabilities 2017, para. 82a (ix)
- Original document
- Paragraph text
- [In that regard, the Special Rapporteur offers the following recommendations:] [In consultation with persons with disabilities and their organizations, States should:] Ensure that the obligation of reasonable accommodation for persons with disabilities is applied to public and private housing providers, financial actors and all aspects of the housing environment;
- 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
- Persons with disabilities
- Year
- 2017
- Date modified
- Feb 14, 2020
Paragraph
The right to adequate housing of persons with disabilities 2017, para. 82c
- Original document
- Paragraph text
- [In that regard, the Special Rapporteur offers the following recommendations:] Civil society and organizations of persons with disabilities should take forward or support legal challenges to structural violations of the right to housing of persons with disabilities and seek systemic remedies.
- 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
- Person(s) affected
- Persons with disabilities
- Year
- 2017
- Date modified
- Feb 14, 2020
Paragraph
The right to adequate housing of persons with disabilities 2017, para. 82a (vi)
- Original document
- Paragraph text
- [In that regard, the Special Rapporteur offers the following recommendations:] [In consultation with persons with disabilities and their organizations, States should:] Design and implement both qualitative and quantitative data collection about the housing circumstances of persons with disabilities, disaggregated on the basis of the standard survey questions of the Washington Group on Disabilities;
- 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
- Person(s) affected
- Persons with disabilities
- Year
- 2017
- Date modified
- Feb 14, 2020
Paragraph
The right to adequate housing of persons with disabilities 2017, para. 82a (viii)
- Original document
- Paragraph text
- [In that regard, the Special Rapporteur offers the following recommendations:] [In consultation with persons with disabilities and their organizations, States should:] Ensure that security of tenure and other legal protection in housing are developed and applied in a manner that recognizes the distinctive needs of persons with disabilities;
- 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
- Persons with disabilities
- Year
- 2017
- Date modified
- Feb 14, 2020
Paragraph
The right to adequate housing of persons with disabilities 2017, para. 82a (iv)
- Original document
- Paragraph text
- [In that regard, the Special Rapporteur offers the following recommendations:] [In consultation with persons with disabilities and their organizations, States should:] Ensure access to justice and effective accountability mechanisms for claims to the right to adequate housing by persons with disabilities, including when States have failed to adopt reasonable programmatic measures to realize the right;
- 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
- Person(s) affected
- Persons with disabilities
- Year
- 2017
- Date modified
- Feb 14, 2020
Paragraph
The right to adequate housing of persons with disabilities 2017, para. 82a (xiv)
- Original document
- Paragraph text
- [In that regard, the Special Rapporteur offers the following recommendations:] [In consultation with persons with disabilities and their organizations, States should:] Adopt accessibility requirements that apply to new housing and implement a clear time frame for ensuring accessibility within existing housing stock;
- 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
- Person(s) affected
- Persons with disabilities
- Year
- 2017
- Date modified
- Feb 14, 2020
Paragraph
The right to adequate housing of persons with disabilities 2017, para. 82a (iii)
- Original document
- Paragraph text
- [In that regard, the Special Rapporteur offers the following recommendations:] [In consultation with persons with disabilities and their organizations, States should:] Ensure that all persons with disabilities are able to live free from institutionalization and that access to adequate housing, the requisite services and appropriately trained support is provided in the community;
- 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
- Person(s) affected
- Persons with disabilities
- Year
- 2017
- Date modified
- Feb 14, 2020
Paragraph
The right to adequate housing of persons with disabilities 2017, para. 45c
- Original document
- Paragraph text
- [The Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights has identified some indicators of whether a State has satisfied a standard of reasonableness, including:] Whether the steps were taken within a reasonable time frame;
- 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
- Gender
- Person(s) affected
- Persons with disabilities
- Year
- 2017
- Date modified
- Feb 14, 2020
Paragraph
The right to adequate housing of persons with disabilities 2017, para. 57
- Original document
- Paragraph text
- Cultural identity and expression are key to self-realization and inclusion in communities for many persons with disabilities. All the components of adequate housing identified above must be understood in the context of the right to culturally adequate housing. Accessible housing constructed on the basis of “universal” barrier-free design, for example, must respect diverse cultural identities.
- 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
- Persons with disabilities
- Year
- 2017
- Date modified
- Feb 14, 2020
Paragraph
The right to adequate housing of persons with disabilities 2017, para. 46
- Original document
- Paragraph text
- The standard of reasonableness to assess States’ compliance with the obligation to take measures to realize the right to adequate housing for persons with disabilities runs parallel to the similar standard of reasonableness that is applied in the context of the accommodation of the individual needs of persons with disabilities. The former relies on a standard of maximum of available resources to assess programmatic measures to address the systemic needs of persons with disabilities, while the latter relies on a standard of undue or disproportionate burden in relation to the specific measures required in individual cases. In many cases, however, there is no clear divide between individual needs and needs shared with others in the positive measures taken by Governments to ensure access to accessible housing. As Janet E. Lord and Rebecca Brown note, “the obligation to reasonably accommodate the unique needs of persons with disabilities merges with the obligation under the [International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights] and under the economic, social and cultural rights provisions in the [Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities], to apply the maximum of available resources to realizing the substantive rights in question”.
- 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
- Persons with disabilities
- Year
- 2017
- Date modified
- Feb 14, 2020
Paragraph
The right to adequate housing of persons with disabilities 2017, para. 32
- Original document
- Paragraph text
- The right to housing is a central part of humanitarian action, from emergency shelter to longer-term accommodation and settlement. Until recently, however, shelter has been provided without consideration of the potential barriers for persons with disabilities.
- 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
- Humanitarian
- Person(s) affected
- Persons with disabilities
- Year
- 2017
- Date modified
- Feb 14, 2020
Paragraph
The right to adequate housing of persons with disabilities 2017, para. 64
- Original document
- Paragraph text
- Through a number of cases, South African courts have played a leading role in establishing that, in order to meet a test of being “just and equitable”, evictions must not be permitted to render persons homeless, with particular attention to person with disabilities.
- 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
- Persons with disabilities
- Year
- 2017
- Date modified
- Feb 14, 2020
Paragraph
The right to adequate housing of persons with disabilities 2017, para. 33
- Original document
- Paragraph text
- The unique fusion of civil, political and economic and social and cultural rights in the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities has immense potential to breathe new life into the right to adequate housing of persons with disabilities. Five central tenets of the disability human rights paradigm are particularly important in understanding the right to adequate housing in that context.
- 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
- Persons with disabilities
- Year
- 2017
- Date modified
- Feb 14, 2020
Paragraph
The right to adequate housing of persons with disabilities 2017, para. 59
- Original document
- Paragraph text
- The significant potential of the disability human rights paradigm to advance the realization of the right to housing has not yet been fully tested in courts. Courts and human rights bodies have been reluctant to engage with the positive obligation of States to address systemic violations of the right to adequate housing experienced by persons with disabilities.
- 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
- Person(s) affected
- Persons with disabilities
- Year
- 2017
- Date modified
- Feb 14, 2020
Paragraph
The right to adequate housing of persons with disabilities 2017, para. 72
- Original document
- Paragraph text
- Under the National Disability Council Act of 2004 of Namibia, a council is established to monitor the implementation of a national policy on disability, including ensuring adequate allowances and pensions for persons with disabilities and developing and providing accessible housing through public schemes.
- 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
- Person(s) affected
- Persons with disabilities
- Year
- 2017
- Date modified
- Feb 14, 2020
Paragraph
The right to adequate housing of persons with disabilities 2017, para. 53
- Original document
- Paragraph text
- Governments have obligations to remove not only physical but also financial and legal barriers to access to adequate housing for persons with disabilities. They must ensure the affordability of rents, utilities and other essential services, by providing the necessary financial assistance, such as through rental subsidies, and addressing barriers relating to rental contracts and access to loans.
- 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
- Persons with disabilities
- Year
- 2017
- Date modified
- Feb 14, 2020
Paragraph
The right to adequate housing of persons with disabilities 2017, para. 3
- Paragraph text
- At the same time, the right to adequate housing must incorporate the transformative understanding of the human rights of persons with disabilities that is encapsulated in the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. The “disability human rights paradigm” represents a “dramatic change in rights discourse”. It gives new meaning to the concepts of the interdependence and the indivisibility of rights, in particular in relation to the right to live in dignity in a home within a community. It rejects charitable and medical approaches to disability, recognizing that discrimination, inequality and disadvantage are socially constructed responses to diversity and difference. It offers a human rights-based alternative, placing persons with disabilities at the centre of their own lives, as subjects of rights. It recognizes that discrimination often takes the form of programmes and policies designed to meet the needs of dominant groups while ignoring the needs of persons with disabilities. It affirms that dignity, autonomy, independence and participation rely on not only freedom from institutionalization and State control but also positive measures by Governments to support the right to live in the community as one chooses.
- 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
- Persons with disabilities
- Year
- 2017
- Date modified
- Feb 14, 2020
Paragraph
The right to adequate housing of persons with disabilities 2017, para. 81
- Original document
- Paragraph text
- If the immense potential of the integration of the disability rights paradigm with the right to housing is to be realized, States and other actors will have to make a fundamental shift in the way in which they think about and interact with the human rights of persons with disabilities.
- 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
- Person(s) affected
- Persons with disabilities
- Year
- 2017
- Date modified
- Feb 14, 2020
Paragraph
The right to adequate housing of persons with disabilities 2017, para. 78
- Original document
- Paragraph text
- A number of countries identified their national human rights institutions as having the jurisdiction to oversee the implementation of the right to housing for persons with disabilities, including Finland, Namibia and the Republic of Korea.
- 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
- Persons with disabilities
- Year
- 2017
- Date modified
- Feb 14, 2020
Paragraph
The right to adequate housing of persons with disabilities 2017, para. 2
- Paragraph text
- In the Special Rapporteur’s view, the right to adequate housing of persons with disabilities must be understood as a dialogue between the jurisprudence and commentary that has evolved over many years and is guaranteed under the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights and the framework for the human rights of persons with disabilities set forth in the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. The right to housing enshrined in article 11 of the International Covenant has been understood to encompass much more than physical shelter. It is recognized as the right to live in security, peace and dignity. It is fundamentally connected to the rights to life and to non-discrimination and the freedom to choose where to live, as well as to the rights to freedom of expression and association and to participate in public decision-making. It includes security of tenure, the availability of services, materials, facilities and infrastructure, affordability, habitability, accessibility, appropriate location and cultural adequacy. Those central components of the right to housing have special meaning for persons with disabilities and give rise to particular obligations of States and other actors.
- 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
- Persons with disabilities
- Year
- 2017
- Date modified
- Feb 14, 2020
Paragraph
The right to adequate housing of persons with disabilities 2017, para. 50
- Original document
- Paragraph text
- Security of tenure is a cornerstone of the right to housing. Persons with disabilities are less likely to enjoy security of tenure and often experience catastrophic results owing to displacement and forced eviction. They often lose not only their physical home but also a network of support and contacts, without which they may not survive.
- 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)
- Movement
- Social & Cultural Rights
- Person(s) affected
- Persons with disabilities
- Year
- 2017
- Date modified
- Feb 14, 2020
Paragraph
The right to adequate housing of persons with disabilities 2017, para. 45a
- Original document
- Paragraph text
- [The Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights has identified some indicators of whether a State has satisfied a standard of reasonableness, including:] The extent to which the measures taken were deliberate, concrete and targeted towards the fulfilment of the right;
- 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
- Person(s) affected
- All
- Year
- 2017
- Date modified
- Feb 14, 2020
Paragraph
The right to adequate housing of persons with disabilities 2017, para. 45e
- Original document
- Paragraph text
- [The Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights has identified some indicators of whether a State has satisfied a standard of reasonableness, including:] Whether policies have prioritized grave situations or situations of risk;
- 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
- Person(s) affected
- Persons with disabilities
- Year
- 2017
- Date modified
- Feb 14, 2020
Paragraph
The right to adequate housing of persons with disabilities 2017, para. 77
- Original document
- Paragraph text
- A number of jurisdictions have adopted a “housing first” model to address homelessness. The model provides chronically homeless persons, in particular those with psychosocial impairments and/or drug or alcohol addictions, with long-term housing and the necessary forms of support.
- 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
- Health
- Person(s) affected
- Persons with disabilities
- Year
- 2017
- Date modified
- Feb 14, 2020
Paragraph
Financialization of housing and the right to adequate housing 2017, para. 58
- Paragraph text
- There is considerable variation and inconsistency, however, in the way mortgage or rental default is addressed in domestic law and enforced by courts. In many jurisdictions, foreclosure is a common practice for arrears in mortgage payments, regardless of the cause of the arrears and the consequences of foreclosure. Principles of international human rights law requiring, for example, that no eviction take place if it will lead to homelessness, have not generally been properly applied by domestic courts to evictions linked to defaults on mortgages or rent. The Special Rapporteur is concerned that in the area of housing, the "remedy" of eviction from homes is routinely applied in the case of unpaid debts, even though there are many other options available for courts to enforce repayment or restructuring of debts, short of invoking the State power to seize or evict individuals from their home, such as imposing repayment plans or garnishing wages. Foreclosures and evictions have severe effects on health and well-being and may result in the loss of custody of children. Those are unacceptable consequences of default on mortgage or rent payments when other options are available. They are, moreover, generally contrary to international human rights law.
- 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
- Social & Cultural Rights
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Year
- 2017
- Date modified
- Feb 14, 2020
Paragraph
Homelessness as a global human rights crisis that demands an urgent global response 2016, para. 91e
- Paragraph text
- [In line with the present conclusions, the Special Rapporteur offers the following recommendations to States:] Any and all laws or measures that criminalize, impose fines on or restrict homeless people or behaviour associated with being homeless, such as sleeping or eating in public spaces, must be immediately repealed;
- 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
- Person(s) affected
- All
- Year
- 2016
- Date modified
- Feb 14, 2020
Paragraph
The right to life and the right to adequate housing: the indivisibility and interdependence between these rights 2016, para. 72
- Paragraph text
- The true reunification of the right to life and the right to adequate housing, however, can only be accomplished by a global response, led by States, including their legislatures and courts, by human rights institutions and by civil society.
- 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
- Social & Cultural Rights
- Person(s) affected
- All
- Year
- 2016
- Date modified
- Feb 14, 2020
Paragraph
The right to life and the right to adequate housing: the indivisibility and interdependence between these rights 2016, para. 63
- Paragraph text
- Despite the fact that the Constitution of India separates the right to life as a justiciable right from the right to housing as a policy directive, the Supreme Court of India recognized the impossibility of separating the two rights as early as 1981, stating: The right to life includes the right to live with human dignity and all that goes along with it, namely, the bare necessaries of life such as adequate nutrition, clothing and shelter and facilities for reading, writing and expressing oneself in diverse forms, freely moving about and mixing and commingling with fellow human beings. This case was followed by a number of crucial decisions, including in the Olga Tellis case, in which it was explicitly recognized that the right to livelihood forms an integral part of the right to life; the Shantistar Builders Society case, in which it was held that the right to life "would take within its sweep … a reasonable accommodation to live in"; and Chameli Singh v. State of U.P., in which the state's obligations under the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Political Rights were considered and it was noted that "[the] right to shelter when used as an essential requisite to the right to live should be deemed to have been guaranteed as a fundamental right".
- 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
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Social & Cultural Rights
- Person(s) affected
- All
- Year
- 2016
- Date modified
- Feb 14, 2020
Paragraph
Financialization of housing and the right to adequate housing 2017, para. 74
- Paragraph text
- A range of initiatives has also been introduced in a number of States and cities to provide access to credit for low-income households based on alternative, community controlled models of microfinancing. Growing either from non-governmental organizations or microenterprise lenders, microfinance allows low-income households to finance construction over time, often in unplanned areas.
- 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
- N.A.
- Year
- 2017
- Date modified
- Feb 14, 2020
Paragraph
Financialization of housing and the right to adequate housing 2017, para. 36
- Paragraph text
- In contemporary Chile, the appropriation of land by large scale investors and speculators, accumulating land and luxury properties, has meant that inner-city redevelopment has displaced many traditional residents, exemplifying "the intertwined roles of the state and assorted holders of economic capital in the production, distribution and representation of urban exclusion and segregation".
- 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
- Social & Cultural Rights
- Person(s) affected
- N.A.
- Year
- 2017
- Date modified
- Feb 14, 2020
Paragraph
The right to life and the right to adequate housing: the indivisibility and interdependence between these rights 2016, para. 57
- Paragraph text
- Through its jurisprudence over the past two decades, the Inter-American Court of Human Rights has developed the concept of vida digna (the right to a dignified life) in the context of article 4 (right to life) of the American Convention on Human Rights. This concept was first referenced in the Court's landmark decision in "Street Children" (Villagrán Morales et al.) v. Guatemala,39 and is, perhaps, nowhere else more eloquently articulated: The right to life is a fundamental human right, and the exercise of this right is essential for the exercise of all other human rights. If it is not respected, all rights lack meaning. Owing to the fundamental nature of the right to life, restrictive approaches to it are inadmissible. In essence, the fundamental right to life includes not only the right of every human being not to be deprived of his life arbitrarily, but also the right that he will not be prevented from having access to the conditions that guarantee a dignified existence. States have the obligation to guarantee the creation of the conditions required in order that violations of this basic right do not occur and, in particular, the duty to prevent its agents from violating it.
- 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
- Social & Cultural Rights
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Year
- 2016
- Date modified
- Feb 14, 2020
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. 46
- Paragraph text
- While the structural causes of migration and displacement must be addressed by all levels of government and by the international community, the need of new arrivals for housing and related services, as well as their related need to retain their cultural practices, identity and sense of community, must be met in cities. Local governments are increasingly responsible for addressing housing needs linked to migration and displacement to cities, yet they often lack the necessary resources and capacity to provide adequate housing and services. Moreover, local governments may themselves respond in a discriminatory and punitive fashion to migrants or the internally displaced. It has become alarmingly common for foreign migrants, especially those who are undocumented, to be deprived of social protection, including emergency shelters, in cities - sometimes at the insistence of national-level Governments that provide funding for housing and social protection programmes. Such discrimination and the resulting homelessness among migrants impose further costs on cities. Ensuring that migrants have a secure place to live, can access rental accommodation and can choose to live in the most appropriate and affordable neighbourhoods is essential to combatting their exclusion and imbuing in them a sense of belonging in the city.
- 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
- Movement
- Person(s) affected
- Persons on the move
- Year
- 2015
- Date modified
- Feb 14, 2020
Paragraph
Financialization of housing and the right to adequate housing 2017, para. 68
- Paragraph text
- Nonetheless, a number of subnational and national governments have started to address the effects of excess capital flows and financialization on affordability and access to housing for low-income households. Initiatives have been advanced at both national and subnational levels providing a number of tools that can at least curb the excesses of financialization and mitigate its effects.
- 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
- N.A.
- Year
- 2017
- Date modified
- Feb 14, 2020
Paragraph
Homelessness as a global human rights crisis that demands an urgent global response 2016, para. 49b
- Paragraph text
- [State obligations in relation to homelessness have been clearly articulated and can be summarized as follows:] States must combat discrimination, stigma and negative stereotyping of homeless people as a matter of urgency and provide legal protection from discrimination because of social and economic situation, which includes homelessness;
- 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
- 2016
- Date modified
- Feb 14, 2020
Paragraph
Homelessness as a global human rights crisis that demands an urgent global response 2016, para. 45
- Paragraph text
- Families with children are at increasing risk of homelessness as parents are deprived of the income necessary for housing and supply of affordable housing is depleted. In Ireland, families with children have become the fastest growing group within the homeless population. Those families risk losing their children to public authorities for failing to provide adequate housing.
- 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
- Children
- Families
- Year
- 2016
- Date modified
- Feb 14, 2020
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. 66
- Paragraph text
- Human rights must be accorded a status of paramountcy within urban law so as to guide the design, interpretation and application of all other laws, policies and programmes. Paramountcy of human rights means that decision makers are legally required to consider and apply the right to housing in their areas of responsibility. Planners must recognize in situ rights of those living in informal settlements. A tribunal or court reviewing intended evictions needs to consider all possible alternatives and, if evictions are unavoidable, ensure that those being displaced have been fully consulted and engaged and provided with adequate and appropriate alternative housing. Zoning laws, property rights or urban development plans must be developed in consultation with and with the participation of those who will be directly affected and assessed in terms of their effect on marginalized or vulnerable groups. Any officials engaged in administering laws or policies linked to the right to housing should be provided with training in the meaning and application of the right to housing in their areas of responsibility.
- 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
- Persons on the move
- Year
- 2015
- Date modified
- Feb 14, 2020
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. 26
- Paragraph text
- Just as cities can become the nests for new and innovative advances in architecture, culture, education and economic growth, they can also become generators of new, vibrant and inclusive exchanges of ideas and information about realizing rights. While the pluralism and diversity found in many cities can be a source of significant conflict and lead to exclusion and violations of human rights, they can also nourish a human rights-friendly culture. Recent years have witnessed the emergence of new and dynamic human rights movements in cities. It is essential to engage with social movements and urban communities, as they can drive and nurture commitments to the right to adequate housing. As a result of some of these struggles, cities have adopted charters, ordinances and other legal mechanisms which affirm social inclusion and the right to adequate housing. Habitat III is an opportunity to harness these rights-oriented urban social movements and create stronger collaborations between them, with the shared goal of the realization of the right to adequate housing.
- 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
- N.A.
- Year
- 2015
- Date modified
- Feb 14, 2020
Paragraph
Responsibilities of local and other subnational governments in relation to the right to adequate housing 2015, para. 10
- Paragraph text
- The internal allocation of responsibilities for implementing the right to adequate housing is a matter for State parties to determine, but the allocation must be consistent with the obligation to ensure compliance with international human rights obligations. The Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights has indicated that "all administrative authorities will take account of the requirements of the Covenant in their decision-making". Hence, the wide range of housing policy and programme decisions often made at the local level, including budgeting, planning, zoning, allocation of benefits and publically funded housing units, the provision or regulation of basic services, rent subsidies, and any other decisions related to access to adequate housing, must comply with relevant, applicable human rights norms. In most cases a national housing strategy is required among regional and local authorities in order to reconcile related policies with the obligations under the Covenant. The Committee on the Rights of the Child further clarifies that State parties must also ensure that local authorities "have the necessary financial, human and other resources to effectively discharge [their] responsibilities".
- 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
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Social & Cultural Rights
- Person(s) affected
- All
- Children
- Year
- 2015
- Date modified
- Feb 14, 2020
Paragraph
The right to life and the right to adequate housing: the indivisibility and interdependence between these rights 2016, para. 65
- Paragraph text
- The new Constitution of Kenya (2010) includes both the right to life and the right to accessible and adequate housing as justiciable rights. Kenyan courts have affirmed an integrated understanding of the relationship between the two rights under the new Constitution. In the Garissa case, for example, a claim was filed on behalf of 1,122 people who were brutally evicted from land they had occupied since the 1940s. The High Court observed that the Constitution of Kenya recognizes all human rights as justiciable, noting that "people living without the basic necessities of life are deprived of human dignity, freedom and equality". The court found that the evictions violated the rights to life and to adequate housing and issued an injunction compelling the State to return the claimants to their land and to reconstruct their homes or provide alternative housing and other facilities. Similarly, in the Santrose Ayuma case, another large-scale eviction, the High Court found that evictions carried out without meaningful engagement with those affected and without provision of alternative shelter violated the rights to life and to adequate housing. The court insisted that resettlement plans be consistent with the right to a dignified life.
- 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
- Persons on the move
- Year
- 2016
- Date modified
- Feb 14, 2020
Paragraph
Homelessness as a global human rights crisis that demands an urgent global response 2016, para. 49g
- Paragraph text
- [State obligations in relation to homelessness have been clearly articulated and can be summarized as follows:] Access to effective remedies to homelessness must be ensured, including enforcement of obligations linked to the progressive realization of the right to housing and the elimination of homelessness.
- 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
- Person(s) affected
- All
- Year
- 2016
- Date modified
- Feb 14, 2020
Paragraph
Homelessness as a global human rights crisis that demands an urgent global response 2016, para. 70
- Paragraph text
- While improved statistical data will be important to guide public policy and to hold governments accountable, adjustments will need to be made for the inevitable limitations, omissions and possible distortions in available data. Challenges associated with measuring homelessness should not be allowed to encourage policies that respond only to the visible and more easily measured forms of homelessness. Homelessness among single men living on the streets or using emergency shelters is more easily measured. It is more difficult to measure homelessness among women, children and young people living temporarily with family or friends, or among those most marginalized and precariously housed within informal settlements, who may be altogether left out of census or data collection. It is equally difficult to identify and measure homelessness among indigenous households or communities displaced from ancestral lands. Members of ethnic minorities may not wish to be identified by authorities. In Kenya, for instance, many of the people who become homeless because of ethnic violence did not want to be identified for fear of reprisal. Policy responses and assessments of progress in eliminating homelessness must make allowances for less visible dimensions of homelessness that may not have been measured.
- 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
- Humanitarian
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Ethnic minorities
- Women
- Youth
- Year
- 2016
- Date modified
- Feb 14, 2020
Paragraph
Homelessness as a global human rights crisis that demands an urgent global response 2016, para. 57
- Paragraph text
- Important advances have been made in domestic jurisdictions recognizing that homelessness violates a range of human rights. The Grundgesetz (Basic Law) of Germany has been interpreted to ensure that adequate and humane housing is a component of a minimum standard of living in line with human dignity.
- 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
- Person(s) affected
- All
- Year
- 2016
- Date modified
- Feb 14, 2020
Paragraph
Responsibilities of local and other subnational governments in relation to the right to adequate housing 2015, para. 68
- Paragraph text
- Other emerging mechanisms, such as performance contracts which stipulate socioeconomic indicators and targets that municipal officials must meet, can similarly be used as an accountability mechanism at the local level for the right to adequate housing.
- 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
- Person(s) affected
- All
- Year
- 2015
- Date modified
- Feb 14, 2020
Paragraph
Financialization of housing and the right to adequate housing 2017, para. 11
- Paragraph text
- The right to adequate housing is, at its core, the right to a place to live in dignity and security. It is interdependent with other human rights, particularly the right to equality and non-discrimination and the right to life (see A/71/310). It is against those core human rights values that the actions of States in relation to financial actors and housing systems are to be assessed.
- 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
- 2017
- Date modified
- Feb 14, 2020
Paragraph
The right to life and the right to adequate housing: the indivisibility and interdependence between these rights 2016, para. 39
- Paragraph text
- In the context of article 17 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, prohibiting arbitrary or unlawful interference with privacy, family, home or correspondence, the Committee has recognized certain components of the right to adequate housing under the Covenant. It has found that a termination of tenancy rights due to an absence from the country is arbitrary and therefore contrary to article 17 (see CCPR/C/112/D/2068/2011) and that housing constructed without formal permission on municipal property should be recognized as a "home" and protected from unlawful interference (see CCPR/C/106/D/2073/2011). The Committee has also acknowledged the devastating consequences of eviction on families and communities and has stipulated that it should not be permitted if it will result in homelessness (ibid.). In a concurring opinion in the Georgopoulos case, a member of the Human Rights Committee, Fabián Salvioli, noted that the Committee's decision in that case recognized the principle of the interdependence and indivisibility of rights and was consistent with "the trend in contemporary international human rights law away from the fictitious and artificial division of rights into 'categories'" (CCPR/C/99/D/1799/2008, para. 3).
- 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
- Social & Cultural Rights
- Person(s) affected
- Families
- Year
- 2016
- Date modified
- Feb 14, 2020
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
- Date modified
- Feb 14, 2020
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
- Date modified
- Feb 14, 2020
Paragraph
Homelessness as a global human rights crisis that demands an urgent global response 2016, para. 42
- Paragraph text
- Once homeless, women's experiences are acute. They are exposed to high rates of violence, including rape. In its inquiry into the situation of missing and murdered indigenous women in Canada, the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women recognized the link between Aboriginal women's poverty, homelessness and their disappearances and murder.
- 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
- Ethnic minorities
- Women
- Year
- 2016
- Date modified
- Feb 14, 2020
Paragraph
Financialization of housing and the right to adequate housing 2017, para. 51
- Paragraph text
- Financialization is made possible through the legal enforcement of agreements between lenders and borrowers. It relies on legal systems governing property rights, zoning laws and contracts and also on an increasingly complex system of international and regional treaties governing the terms and conditions of investments and government actions that may have an impact on profitability.
- 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
- N.A.
- Year
- 2017
- Date modified
- Feb 14, 2020
Paragraph
Responsibilities of local and other subnational governments in relation to the right to adequate housing 2015, para. 74
- Paragraph text
- Innovative initiatives offer new opportunities to connect international human rights norms with local housing struggles and vice versa, and are resulting in the development of new and constructive relationships between local levels of governments, community groups and rights holders.
- 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
- N.A.
- Year
- 2015
- Date modified
- Feb 14, 2020
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. 57
- Paragraph text
- In much of the world, urbanization has become synonymous with the emergence and expansion of informal settlements. Around one quarter of the world's urban population, or approximately 828 million people, live in informal settlements. What this means in real terms, in human terms, is the denial of almost every human right and a constant assault on human dignity. Life in an informal settlement at its worst can entail lack of clean, running water, sanitation services and electricity, open defecation, overcrowding, houses overrun by rodents, lack of garbage disposal, living in structurally unstable homes easily destroyed by extreme weather, living in the most undesirable and sometimes dangerous areas and living under constant threat of forced eviction. And if the actual housing conditions are not bad enough, informal settlements often lack nearby services such as health-care facilities and schools, and often offer no employment opportunities or places for children to play. Young people are left to languish and informal settlements can easily become breeding grounds for conflict and violence.
- 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
- Children
- Youth
- Year
- 2015
- Date modified
- Feb 14, 2020
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. 70
- Paragraph text
- The Special Rapporteur believes that it is also important to consider various redistributive and cost-recovery mechanisms in cities from a human rights standpoint. Expenditure on public space, infrastructure, recreational facilities and cultural and artistic activities too often benefits more advantaged households to the detriment of the needs of the vast majorities. Pricing of rental housing, water, sanitation and electricity should ensure affordability for low-income households rather than direct cost recovery. Private providers of housing and infrastructure must be regulated in a manner that accords with the fact that, while housing and infrastructure are often treated as commodities, they are fundamental human rights, requiring significant adjustments to prevailing business models. Adjusted pricing of services for low-income households, for example, has been proven to be an efficient business model which at the same time facilitates access to housing, water, sanitation and electricity that might otherwise be denied. Human rights-based tax audits have also been effective in ensuring that revenue collection at the city level is aligned with obligations to apply the maximum of available resources to realize the right to housing.
- 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
- Water & Sanitation
- Person(s) affected
- N.A.
- Year
- 2015
- Date modified
- Feb 14, 2020
Paragraph
Financialization of housing and the right to adequate housing 2017, para. 77a
- Paragraph text
- [The Special Rapporteur suggests that the way forward requires a shift to take hold so that States ensure that all investment in housing recognizes its social function and States' human rights obligations in that regard. That requires a transformation of the relationship between the State and the financial sector, whereby human rights implementation becomes the overriding goal, not a subsidiary or neglected obligation. The Special Rapporteur believes that can be achieved with more constructive engagement and dialogue between States, human rights actors, international and domestic financial regulatory bodies, private equity firms and major investors. In order to create those new conversations and achieve that shift, the Special Rapporteur recommends the following:] New initiatives should be developed in order to bridge the worlds of corporate and government finance, housing, planning and human rights. The Special Rapporteur recommends that an international high-level meeting of States, international financial institutions, human rights bodies, civil society organizations and relevant experts be organized to design a strategy for engaging financial regulatory bodies and actors in the realization of the goal of adequate housing for all by 2030;
- 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
- N.A.
- Year
- 2017
- Date modified
- Feb 14, 2020
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
- Date modified
- Feb 14, 2020
Paragraph
Financialization of housing and the right to adequate housing 2017, para. 63
- Paragraph text
- A leading framework for the human rights responsibilities of business enterprises is the Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights: Implementing the United Nations "Protect, Respect and Remedy" Framework. It is grounded in three pillars: (a) the obligation of States to protect against human rights abuses committed by companies; (b) the responsibility of business enterprises to respect human rights, and thus avoid causing or contributing to adverse human rights impacts; and (c) the obligation of States to provide victims with access to effective remedies when rights are breached. A similar framework is applied in the ten principles of the United Nations Global Compact, the first two of which commit businesses to support and respect the protection of internationally proclaimed human rights and to refrain from complicity in human rights abuses. The Principles for Responsible Investment, launched in 2006 by the United Nations Environment Programme Finance Initiative and the Global Compact, provide a voluntary framework for the incorporation of environmental, social and governance issues into decision-making and ownership practices. Over 1,200 investment institutions have become signatories, with approximately US$ 45 trillion assets under management.
- 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
- Environment
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Person(s) affected
- N.A.
- Year
- 2017
- Date modified
- Feb 14, 2020
Paragraph
The right to life and the right to adequate housing: the indivisibility and interdependence between these rights 2016, para. 33
- Paragraph text
- The Committee's recognition in its general comment No. 6 and in periodic reviews that the right to life requires positive measures to address homelessness and poverty stands in marked contrast with the absence of consideration of these obligations in the Committee's consideration of alleged violations under the Optional Protocol.
- 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
- Poverty
- Person(s) affected
- All
- N.A.
- Year
- 2016
- Date modified
- Feb 14, 2020
Paragraph
Homelessness as a global human rights crisis that demands an urgent global response 2016, para. 35
- Paragraph text
- Rural homelessness has been the result of decreasing food security from household production, climate change, corporatization of agriculture, loss of land through subdivision at inheritance, declining civil security in rural areas, extreme poverty, unregulated resource exploitation and natural disasters. Rural homelessness usually leads people to migrate to urban areas in search of work and housing.
- 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
- Poverty
- Person(s) affected
- All
- Year
- 2016
- Date modified
- Feb 14, 2020
Paragraph
The right to life and the right to adequate housing: the indivisibility and interdependence between these rights 2016, para. 59
- Paragraph text
- Similar approaches have been adopted in the African system. In the Pretoria Declaration on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights States parties to the African Charter on Human and Peoples' Rights agreed that socioeconomic rights, including the right to housing, must be read into the Charter in the light of references to the right to life, stating: The social, economic and cultural rights explicitly provided for under the African Charter, read together with other rights in the Charter, such as the right to life and respect for inherent human dignity, imply the recognition of other economic and social rights, including the right to shelter, the right to basic nutrition and the right to social security. The Pretoria Declaration drew on the decision of the African Commission on Human and Peoples' Rights in the case of Social and Economic Rights Action Center and Center for Economic and Social Rights v. Nigeria. The Commission found that environmental degradation had "made living in Ogoniland a nightmare" and that destruction of land and farms "affected the life of the Ogoni society as a whole". The Commission concluded that "the most fundamental of all human rights, the right to life, has been violated".
- 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
- Environment
- Social & Cultural Rights
- Person(s) affected
- All
- Year
- 2016
- Date modified
- Feb 14, 2020
Paragraph
Homelessness as a global human rights crisis that demands an urgent global response 2016, para. 49c
- Paragraph text
- [State obligations in relation to homelessness have been clearly articulated and can be summarized as follows:] Evictions should never render individuals homeless. The prohibition of evictions leading to homelessness is immediate, absolute and is not subject to available resources;
- 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
- 2016
- Date modified
- Feb 14, 2020
Paragraph
The right to life and the right to adequate housing: the indivisibility and interdependence between these rights 2016, para. 35
- Paragraph text
- In A.H.G v. Canada, the Committee considered the effect of deporting A.H.G, diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia, to Jamaica, where he would be exposed to "a great risk of deterioration of his health condition, social exclusion, isolation and homelessness" (CCPR/C/113/D/2091/2011, para. 3.2). A.H.G alleged that deportation would violate the right to life (art. 6) and the right to freedom from cruel and inhuman treatment (art. 7). The Committee received evidence of inadequate housing and support services in Jamaica for persons with psychosocial disabilities and, tragically, after being deported, the author did in fact become homeless, living in an "open dump" (ibid., para. 5.8). Yet the Committee found the claim of a violation of the right to life "insufficiently substantiated" and therefore inadmissible. The Committee apparently applied, in the context of an individual communication, the narrow approach to the right to life that it had warned against in its general comment No. 6 by requiring evidence of a direct and intentional threat to the claimant's life. With respect to the right to be free from cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment, on the other hand, the Committee found a violation, affirming that the aim of article 7 is to protect both the dignity and the physical and mental integrity of the individual - an aim that equally could have been attributed to the right to life.
- 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
- Person(s) affected
- Persons with disabilities
- Year
- 2016
- Date modified
- Feb 14, 2020
Paragraph
Financialization of housing and the right to adequate housing 2017, para. 38
- Paragraph text
- Patterns of inequality are often starkest in developing countries. In Africa, if current trends continue, the number of households living in informal settlements will continue to increase while the number of ultra-high-net-worth individuals is predicted to rise by almost 50 per cent in the next decade.
- 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
- N.A.
- Year
- 2017
- Date modified
- Feb 14, 2020
Paragraph
Guiding Principles on security of tenure for the urban poor 2014, para. 34
- Paragraph text
- Professional technicians, including surveyors, planners and notaries, and the use of technology, such as satellite imagery and global positioning systems, should serve to facilitate community mapping and tenure-recording processes, and not pose an obstacle to the establishment of accessible and affordable land administration systems.
- 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
- Person(s) affected
- N.A.
- Year
- 2014
- Date modified
- Feb 14, 2020
Paragraph
Guiding Principles on security of tenure for the urban poor 2014, para. 21
- Paragraph text
- Hybrid tenure models combine cooperatives and CLTs. Multi-residential buildings are owned and managed by a housing cooperative and the underlying land is owned by the CLT, providing another layer of protection for affordability. The Cooper Square CLT, for example, in New York City holds the land to over 300 low-income housing units in multi-family buildings owned and managed by a mutual housing association.
- 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
- N.A.
- Year
- 2014
- Date modified
- Feb 14, 2020
Paragraph
Guiding Principles on security of tenure for the urban poor 2014, para. 1e
- Paragraph text
- [The following types of tenure, among others, should be promoted, strengthened and protected, as appropriate in the given context:] Collective arrangements.
- 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
- N.A.
- Year
- 2014
- Date modified
- Feb 14, 2020
Paragraph
Guiding Principles on security of tenure for the urban poor 2014, para. 9a
- Paragraph text
- [Urban poor individuals and communities are essential actors in strengthening tenure security. States should be accountable to the urban poor for the implementation of these guiding principles by, inter alia:] Making tenure-related information public and accessible to all in a timely manner;
- 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
- N.A.
- Year
- 2014
- Date modified
- Feb 14, 2020
Paragraph
Guiding Principles on security of tenure for the urban poor 2014, para. 2f
- Paragraph text
- [In order to improve security of tenure, especially for vulnerable and marginalized persons and groups living in urban poor settlements, States, including relevant authorities, should take the following measures:] Facilitate participatory settlement mapping, enumerations and tenure registration;
- 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
- Person(s) affected
- N.A.
- Year
- 2014
- Date modified
- Feb 14, 2020
Paragraph
Guiding Principles on security of tenure for the urban poor 2014, para. 27a
- Paragraph text
- [States should also facilitate in situ tenure solutions, wherever possible, for those people residing on privately owned property where the inhabitants have no other adequate housing option. Options for securing tenure for inhabitants, either on an individual or collective basis, include:] The recognition of adverse possession 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)
- Civil & Political Rights
- Economic Rights
- Social & Cultural Rights
- Person(s) affected
- All
- Year
- 2014
- Date modified
- Feb 14, 2020
Paragraph
Guiding Principles on security of tenure for the urban poor 2014, para. 5h
- Paragraph text
- [Non-discrimination on the basis of tenure status must be guaranteed in the context of, inter alia:] Police procedures; and
- 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
- Person(s) affected
- All
- Year
- 2014
- Date modified
- Feb 14, 2020
Paragraph
Guiding Principles on security of tenure for the urban poor 2014, para. 9e
- Paragraph text
- [Urban poor individuals and communities are essential actors in strengthening tenure security. States should be accountable to the urban poor for the implementation of these guiding principles by, inter alia:] Periodic reporting of progress at national and international levels.
- 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
- Poverty
- Person(s) affected
- N.A.
- Year
- 2014
- Date modified
- Feb 14, 2020
Paragraph
Guiding Principles on security of tenure for the urban poor 2014, para. 5
- Paragraph text
- Non-discrimination on the basis of tenure status must be guaranteed and protected in law, policy and practice. This guarantee must apply to all forms of tenure. [...]
- 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
- Person(s) affected
- All
- Year
- 2014
- Date modified
- Feb 14, 2020
Paragraph
Guiding Principles on security of tenure for the urban poor 2014, para. 5b
- Paragraph text
- [Non-discrimination on the basis of tenure status must be guaranteed in the context of, inter alia:] Access to social security;
- 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
- Person(s) affected
- All
- Year
- 2014
- Date modified
- Feb 14, 2020
Paragraph
Guiding Principles on security of tenure for the urban poor 2014, para. 1c
- Paragraph text
- [The following types of tenure, among others, should be promoted, strengthened and protected, as appropriate in the given context:] Rental;
- 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
- Person(s) affected
- N.A.
- Year
- 2014
- Date modified
- Feb 14, 2020
Paragraph
Guiding Principles on security of tenure for the urban poor 2014, para. 5e
- Paragraph text
- [Non-discrimination on the basis of tenure status must be guaranteed in the context of, inter alia:] Housing legislation and policies;
- 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
- Person(s) affected
- N.A.
- Year
- 2014
- Date modified
- Feb 14, 2020
Paragraph
Guiding Principles on security of tenure for the urban poor 2014, para. 2d
- Paragraph text
- [In order to improve security of tenure, especially for vulnerable and marginalized persons and groups living in urban poor settlements, States, including relevant authorities, should take the following measures:] Review and reform urban plans and regulations in order to integrate settlements;
- 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
- Poverty
- Social & Cultural Rights
- Person(s) affected
- N.A.
- Year
- 2014
- Date modified
- Feb 14, 2020
Paragraph
Reflection on work undertaken in first 14 years of the mandate; outline of opportunities and priorities 2014, para. 79
- Paragraph text
- The Special Rapporteur wishes to organize an expert consultation as well as an open public consultation to obtain views and contributions from all relevant stakeholders about these issues. Given their relevance, she wishes to engage particularly with the judiciary and international associations of lawyers and judges.
- 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
- N.A.
- Year
- 2014
- Date modified
- Feb 14, 2020
Paragraph
Guiding Principles on security of tenure for the urban poor 2014, para. 5g
- Paragraph text
- [Non-discrimination on the basis of tenure status must be guaranteed in the context of, inter alia:] Land acquisition and use for public purposes;
- 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
- Person(s) affected
- All
- Year
- 2014
- Date modified
- Feb 14, 2020
Paragraph
Guiding Principles on security of tenure for the urban poor 2014, para. 5d
- Paragraph text
- [Non-discrimination on the basis of tenure status must be guaranteed in the context of, inter alia:] Land administration programmes;
- 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
- N.A.
- Year
- 2014
- Date modified
- Feb 14, 2020
Paragraph
Guiding Principles on security of tenure for the urban poor 2014, para. 33
- Paragraph text
- States, public and private utilities and service providers, businesses and other actors should recognize and respect the tenure rights recorded in settlement information systems, on an equal footing to established land cadastres and registries.
- 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
- 2014
- Date modified
- Feb 14, 2020
Paragraph
Guiding Principles on security of tenure for the urban poor 2014, para. 5f
- Paragraph text
- [Non-discrimination on the basis of tenure status must be guaranteed in the context of, inter alia:] Urban planning;
- 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
- Person(s) affected
- N.A.
- Year
- 2014
- Date modified
- Feb 14, 2020
Paragraph
Reflection on work undertaken in first 14 years of the mandate; outline of opportunities and priorities 2014, para. 85
- Paragraph text
- There are a number of issues that are global or transnational in scope and that have a direct impact on the right to adequate housing in many countries. Global actors such as transnational corporations and multilateral or bilateral financial institutions, and United Nations agencies play significant roles in relation to the right to adequate housing. The actions of transnational extractive industries or development projects, sometimes initiated and overseen by multiple partners, including international financial institutions, may have far-reaching effects on the right to adequate housing, including large-scale displacements, the destruction of sources of livelihood and forced evictions. Similarly, trade and investment agreements and investor dispute mechanisms increasingly involve important issues of public policy and often fail to ensure the consideration of fundamental rights such as the right to adequate housing. These problems have led to important work to assess and clarify issues of corporate accountability, extraterritorial obligations and human rights in relation to trade and investment agreements. The Special Rapporteur expects to be actively engaged with respect to these emerging issues as they relate to the right to adequate housing.
- 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
- Movement
- Social & Cultural Rights
- Person(s) affected
- Persons on the move
- Year
- 2014
- Date modified
- Feb 14, 2020
Paragraph
Guiding Principles on security of tenure for the urban poor 2014, para. 47
- Paragraph text
- Inclusive urban renewal can be facilitated by participatory land readjustment processes. Communities jointly plan and redevelop their pooled land plots to improve infrastructure and services, and in some cases densify the area. Fragmented land plots are assembled and then re-parcelled to achieve a better use of urban space.
- 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
- N.A.
- Year
- 2014
- Date modified
- Feb 14, 2020
Paragraph
Guiding Principles on security of tenure for the urban poor 2014, para. 27e
- Paragraph text
- [States should also facilitate in situ tenure solutions, wherever possible, for those people residing on privately owned property where the inhabitants have no other adequate housing option. Options for securing tenure for inhabitants, either on an individual or collective basis, include:] Land sharing that allocates sufficient land to the owner and to the inhabitants;
- 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
- Social & Cultural Rights
- Person(s) affected
- All
- Year
- 2014
- Date modified
- Feb 14, 2020
Paragraph
Guiding Principles on security of tenure for the urban poor 2014, para. 10
- Paragraph text
- In many places, rapid urbanization has led to the development of large peri-urban areas, blurring divisions between urban and rural systems. The following types of tenure forms, among others, whether deriving from customary, religious, statutory or hybrid tenure systems, should be promoted, strengthened and protected, as appropriate in the given urban and peri-urban context.
- 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
- Social & Cultural Rights
- Person(s) affected
- N.A.
- Year
- 2014
- Date modified
- Feb 14, 2020
Paragraph
Guiding Principles on security of tenure for the urban poor 2014, para. 2i
- Paragraph text
- [In order to improve security of tenure, especially for vulnerable and marginalized persons and groups living in urban poor settlements, States, including relevant authorities, should take the following measures:] Adopt or revise legislation to recognize and protect multiple tenure arrangements.
- 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
- Poverty
- Person(s) affected
- All
- Year
- 2014
- Date modified
- Feb 14, 2020
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. 15
- Paragraph text
- In discussions with government authorities, civil society and other actors, the Special Rapporteur has identified the relationship between subnational governments and international human rights norms, procedures and commitments as one factor that has contributed to the failure to realize the right to adequate housing as affirmed at Habitat II. Over the last 20 years, subnational or local governments have been accorded greater responsibility for the implementation of the housing-related provisions of the Habitat Agenda. However, international human rights mechanisms and procedures have engaged primarily with national Governments rather than directly addressing the circumstances of local governments. So, while local governments hold key responsibilities for housing and related programmes and are equally bound by their States' international obligations, they are rarely participants in the international processes through which obligations are clarified and they often lack clarity about their roles. Moreover, the institutional frameworks for monitoring, implementation and accountability with respect to human rights have rarely been put in place at the city level.
- 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
- Social & Cultural Rights
- Person(s) affected
- N.A.
- Year
- 2015
- Date modified
- Feb 14, 2020
Paragraph
Reflection on work undertaken in first 14 years of the mandate; outline of opportunities and priorities 2014, para. 81
- Paragraph text
- The Special Rapporteur will also conduct research into mechanisms that ensure that diverse actors can be held accountable for their role in the implementation of State obligations and that promote effective interaction between national and subnational governments in the realization of the right to adequate housing.
- 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
- Person(s) affected
- All
- Year
- 2014
- Date modified
- Feb 14, 2020
Paragraph
Guiding Principles on security of tenure for the urban poor 2014, para. 60
- Paragraph text
- Discrimination on the basis of sex exists under all types of land tenure systems. Patriarchal laws, attitudes and customs affect the governance of land in many societies. The financialization of land and housing has, in some cases, further marginalized women and reduced their tenure security.
- 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
- Women
- Year
- 2014
- Date modified
- Feb 14, 2020
Paragraph
Guiding Principles on security of tenure for the urban poor 2014, para. 26
- Paragraph text
- States are obliged to make use of the maximum available resources in order to realize human rights. Public land is an essential resource available to the State to fulfil the right to adequate housing. As such, unless exceptional circumstances exist, the tenure arrangements of households and communities residing on State land, with no other adequate housing option, should be legally secured in situ.
- 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
- 2014
- Date modified
- Feb 14, 2020
Paragraph
Guiding Principles on security of tenure for the urban poor 2014, para. 27b
- Paragraph text
- [States should also facilitate in situ tenure solutions, wherever possible, for those people residing on privately owned property where the inhabitants have no other adequate housing option. Options for securing tenure for inhabitants, either on an individual or collective basis, include:] Rental of the property by the owner at affordable rates and with legal tenancy protections;
- 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
- Social & Cultural Rights
- Person(s) affected
- All
- Year
- 2014
- Date modified
- Feb 14, 2020
Paragraph
Guiding Principles on security of tenure for the urban poor 2014, para. 41
- Paragraph text
- The inability of the poor to access secure and well-located urban housing is often a direct result of policies that promote the commodification of land and housing to the detriment of their social function. As housing becomes increasingly unaffordable, especially in city centres, people have no choice but to resort to insecure self-help alternatives, including sleeping in public places.
- 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
- 2014
- Date modified
- Feb 14, 2020
Paragraph
Guiding Principles on security of tenure for the urban poor 2014, para. 1b
- Paragraph text
- [The following types of tenure, among others, should be promoted, strengthened and protected, as appropriate in the given context:] Use 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
- Person(s) affected
- N.A.
- Year
- 2014
- Date modified
- Feb 14, 2020
Paragraph
Guiding Principles on security of tenure for the urban poor 2014, para. 22
- Paragraph text
- States should adopt measures to promote collective forms of tenure, including supportive legislative and institutional frameworks and suitable financing instruments. States should consider supporting collective tenure strategies for low-income housing through the allocation of public funds and well-located urban land, property tax exemptions and other tax benefits.
- 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
- N.A.
- Year
- 2014
- Date modified
- Feb 14, 2020
Paragraph
Guiding Principles on security of tenure for the urban poor 2014, para. 2g
- Paragraph text
- [In order to improve security of tenure, especially for vulnerable and marginalized persons and groups living in urban poor settlements, States, including relevant authorities, should take the following measures:] Establish fair and effective land dispute resolution mechanisms;
- 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
- Poverty
- Person(s) affected
- All
- Year
- 2014
- Date modified
- Feb 14, 2020
Paragraph
Guiding Principles on security of tenure for the urban poor 2014, para. 5i
- Paragraph text
- [Non-discrimination on the basis of tenure status must be guaranteed in the context of, inter alia:] Humanitarian assistance, including access to shelter.
- 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
- Humanitarian
- Poverty
- Person(s) affected
- All
- Year
- 2014
- Date modified
- Feb 14, 2020
Paragraph
Guiding Principles on security of tenure for the urban poor 2014, para. 71
- Paragraph text
- Real-estate investments of a predominantly speculative nature can have the effect of undermining security of tenure of the urban poor by contributing to the unaffordability of land and housing. The result may be regression in the enjoyment of the right to adequate housing and increased homelessness. Business enterprises should refrain from entering into such property investments to avoid these adverse human rights impacts.
- 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
- Poverty
- Social & Cultural Rights
- Person(s) affected
- All
- Year
- 2014
- Date modified
- Feb 14, 2020
Paragraph
Guiding Principles on security of tenure for the urban poor 2014, para. 40
- Paragraph text
- All potentially affected persons have the right to information about risks to health and safety or the environment, and should be afforded opportunities for active participation in the process of exploring alternatives to in situ solutions and decision-making. Any decision to resettle households should be subject to judicial review.
- 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
- Health
- Person(s) affected
- All
- Year
- 2014
- Date modified
- Feb 14, 2020
Paragraph
Guiding Principles on security of tenure for the urban poor 2014, para. 1d
- Paragraph text
- [The following types of tenure, among others, should be promoted, strengthened and protected, as appropriate in the given context:] Freehold; and
- 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
- N.A.
- Year
- 2014
- Date modified
- Feb 14, 2020
Paragraph
Guiding Principles on security of tenure for the urban poor 2014, para. 2a
- Paragraph text
- [In order to improve security of tenure, especially for vulnerable and marginalized persons and groups living in urban poor settlements, States, including relevant authorities, should take the following measures:] Conduct citywide assessments of tenure arrangements;
- 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
- N.A.
- Year
- 2014
- Date modified
- Feb 14, 2020
Paragraph
Guiding Principles on security of tenure for the urban poor 2014, para. 27c
- Paragraph text
- [States should also facilitate in situ tenure solutions, wherever possible, for those people residing on privately owned property where the inhabitants have no other adequate housing option. Options for securing tenure for inhabitants, either on an individual or collective basis, include:] Sale of the property with State support where necessary;
- 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
- Social & Cultural Rights
- Person(s) affected
- All
- Year
- 2014
- Date modified
- Feb 14, 2020
Paragraph
Guiding Principles on security of tenure for the urban poor 2014, para. 2b
- Paragraph text
- [In order to improve security of tenure, especially for vulnerable and marginalized persons and groups living in urban poor settlements, States, including relevant authorities, should take the following measures:] Identify insecure settlements and population groups, including the homeless;
- 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
- 2014
- Date modified
- Feb 14, 2020
Paragraph
Guiding Principles on security of tenure for the urban poor 2014, para. 9b
- Paragraph text
- [Urban poor individuals and communities are essential actors in strengthening tenure security. States should be accountable to the urban poor for the implementation of these guiding principles by, inter alia:] Ensuring transparency of all decision-making, including reasons for decisions;
- 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
- N.A.
- Year
- 2014
- Date modified
- Feb 14, 2020
Paragraph
Guiding Principles on security of tenure for the urban poor 2014, para. 5a
- Paragraph text
- [Non-discrimination on the basis of tenure status must be guaranteed in the context of, inter alia:] Access to basic services and facilities;
- 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
- Person(s) affected
- All
- Year
- 2014
- Date modified
- Feb 14, 2020
Paragraph
Guiding Principles on security of tenure for the urban poor 2014, para. 5c
- Paragraph text
- [Non-discrimination on the basis of tenure status must be guaranteed in the context of, inter alia:] The collection and presentation of official data;
- 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
- Person(s) affected
- All
- Year
- 2014
- Date modified
- Feb 14, 2020
Paragraph
Reflection on work undertaken in first 14 years of the mandate; outline of opportunities and priorities 2014, para. 77
- Paragraph text
- The Special Rapporteur is interested in building on these significant opportunities at the domestic and international levels. She will identify areas in which support and guidance are needed by Governments, courts, advocates, rights claimants and human rights institutions, with a view to supporting ongoing work at the national and international levels in this regard.
- 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
- N.A.
- Year
- 2014
- Date modified
- Feb 14, 2020
Paragraph
Guiding Principles on security of tenure for the urban poor 2014, para. 1a
- Paragraph text
- [The following types of tenure, among others, should be promoted, strengthened and protected, as appropriate in the given context:] Possession 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
- Person(s) affected
- All
- Year
- 2014
- Date modified
- Feb 14, 2020
Paragraph
Guiding Principles on security of tenure for the urban poor 2014, para. 79
- Paragraph text
- All data on progress and outcomes should be made public, ensuring that the urban poor are able to access and understand the information. Progress reports should be presented to a range of national mechanisms, such as legislatures, national human rights institutions, and public forums, as well as to international mechanisms, including human rights treaty bodies and the Council through the universal periodic review.
- 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
- Poverty
- Person(s) affected
- All
- Year
- 2014
- Date modified
- Feb 14, 2020
Paragraph
Guiding Principles on security of tenure for the urban poor 2014, para. 14
- Paragraph text
- Rental. Renting a plot, dwelling or room from a private or public owner provides access to housing for many urban poor households. Rental involves the right to use housing for a period of time at a given price, without transfer of ownership, on the basis of a written or verbal contract.
- 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
- 2014
- Date modified
- Feb 14, 2020
Paragraph
Guiding Principles on security of tenure for the urban poor 2014, para. 12
- Paragraph text
- Administrative and judicial procedures for the recognition of adverse possession should be simple, prompt and affordable. Both individual and collective adverse possession should be recognized. Where owners have been forcibly displaced or forced to flee their homes, caution should be exercised to ensure that one's right of adverse possession does not obstruct others' right to return.
- 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
- Equality & Inclusion
- Movement
- Person(s) affected
- Persons on the move
- Year
- 2014
- Date modified
- Feb 14, 2020
Paragraph
Guiding Principles on security of tenure for the urban poor 2014, para. 50
- Paragraph text
- The principle of non-discrimination is a pillar of international human rights law. Discrimination constitutes any distinction, exclusion, restriction or preference or other differential treatment that is directly or indirectly based on prohibited grounds of discrimination and which has the intention or effect of nullifying or impairing the recognition, enjoyment or exercise, on an equal footing, of human 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
- Person(s) affected
- All
- Year
- 2014
- Date modified
- Feb 14, 2020
Paragraph
Mapping and framing security of tenure 2013, para. 14
- Paragraph text
- The Human Rights Council, in its resolution 15/8, requested the Special Rapporteur on adequate housing to identify best practices as well as challenges and obstacles to the full realization of the right to adequate housing, and identify protection gaps in that regard. As the above overview shows, a central challenge to the realization of the right to adequate housing is the lack of security of tenure.
- 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
- Date modified
- Feb 14, 2020
Paragraph
Mapping and framing security of tenure 2013, para. 30
- Paragraph text
- The category of informal settlements includes diverse categories with varying degrees of formal recognition-in other words, with "ambiguous" or "hybrid" tenure status. They include regularized or unregularized use or occupancy of land and/or housing, on public, private or customary land, unauthorized subdivisions on legally owned land or housing, and various forms of rental arrangements, whether formalized in some manner or not.
- 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
- Social & Cultural Rights
- Person(s) affected
- All
- Year
- 2013
- Date modified
- Feb 14, 2020
Paragraph
Mapping and framing security of tenure 2013, para. 92
- Paragraph text
- Conflicts and natural disasters tend to exacerbate tenure insecurity for affected populations, in particular displaced persons, and heighten the risks of forced evictions. Displacement resulting from conflict or disaster creates risks for forced evictions, confiscation, land grabs, abusive or fraudulent sale or occupation of land and housing.
- 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
- Movement
- Social & Cultural Rights
- Person(s) affected
- Persons on the move
- Year
- 2013
- Date modified
- Feb 14, 2020
Paragraph
Reflection on work undertaken in first 14 years of the mandate; outline of opportunities and priorities 2014, para. 45
- Paragraph text
- It is also widely accepted that equality and non-discrimination must be achieved substantively, not merely formally. This means recognizing that vulnerable groups are situated differently, that their differences need to be accommodated in laws, policies and programmes, and that States and other actors have a positive obligation to address and remedy systemic patterns of inequality.
- 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
- 2014
- Date modified
- Feb 14, 2020
Paragraph
Mapping and framing security of tenure 2013, para. 78
- Paragraph text
- Public land remains one of the most important potential sources of land for housing the poor, yet there remain obstacles to using public land for such purposes. For instance, poor land governance, corruption in land administration and the tight relationship that exists between tenure status and land values encourages nepotism, corruption, clientelism and market-driven interests in public land allocation.
- 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
- N.A.
- Year
- 2013
- Date modified
- Feb 14, 2020
Paragraph
Mapping and framing security of tenure 2013, para. 23
- Paragraph text
- Security of tenure is understood in the present report as tenure of land and/or housing which ensures a secure home and enables one to live in security, peace and dignity. While the report does not address land tenure other than as prerequisite for housing, it must be noted that issues pertaining to land-whether for housing or agriculture-are intimately linked.
- 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
- Social & Cultural Rights
- Person(s) affected
- All
- Year
- 2013
- Date modified
- Feb 14, 2020
Paragraph
Mapping and framing security of tenure 2013, para. 21
- Paragraph text
- Tenure comes from the French verb tenir, meaning "to hold". A definition that is commonly cited considers land tenure "the relationship, whether legally or customarily defined, among people, as individuals or groups, with respect to land". This definition does not however reflect the realities of informal tenure systems, common in urban areas. The reasons may be that policy development on land tenure has its roots in rural contexts.
- 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
- Social & Cultural Rights
- Person(s) affected
- N.A.
- Year
- 2013
- Date modified
- Feb 14, 2020
Paragraph
Reflection on work undertaken in first 14 years of the mandate; outline of opportunities and priorities 2014, para. 76
- Paragraph text
- Within the international human rights system, with the recent advent of the optional protocols to several treaties, access to justice with respect to housing rights violations is now also a matter of international adjudication. The scope and content of standards of compliance - reasonableness, progressive realization and maximum available resources - will now be gradually clarified.
- 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
- N.A.
- Year
- 2014
- Date modified
- Feb 14, 2020
Paragraph
Reflection on work undertaken in first 14 years of the mandate; outline of opportunities and priorities 2014, para. 58
- Paragraph text
- The Special Rapporteur aims to assist States, civil society and other relevant stakeholders in ensuring the implementation of the right to adequate housing at the domestic level by focusing on several key thematic areas in the course of her mandate.
- 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
- N.A.
- Year
- 2014
- Date modified
- Feb 14, 2020
Paragraph
Mapping and framing security of tenure 2013, para. 72
- Paragraph text
- A land governance and political economy perspective raises some important questions. Who benefits from the status quo and who is excluded? Who sets the agenda for land governance and land management reform? How are the benefits of reform distributed? These questions cannot be ignored, especially not in a context of rising interest in land and conflicted legal pluralism.
- 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
- N.A.
- Year
- 2013
- Date modified
- Feb 14, 2020
Paragraph
Mapping and framing security of tenure 2013, para. 97
- Paragraph text
- Recognition and protection of security of tenure is one of the most compelling challenges of today's world and is fundamental to preventing the most egregious forms of eviction, displacement and homelessness. Furthermore, security of tenure, as the cornerstone of the right to adequate housing, is essential for human dignity and to sustain an adequate standard of living.
- 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)
- Movement
- Social & Cultural Rights
- Person(s) affected
- Persons on the move
- Year
- 2013
- Date modified
- Feb 14, 2020
Paragraph
Mapping and framing security of tenure 2013, para. 70
- Paragraph text
- In addition to gaps in existing human rights guidance, the Special Rapporteur notes a number of challenges at the operational and policy level in a number of sectors bearing upon security of tenure. In this section, she reviews a few existing challenges requiring further examination.
- 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
- N.A.
- Year
- 2013
- Date modified
- Feb 14, 2020
Paragraph
Mapping and framing security of tenure 2013, para. 46
- Paragraph text
- The most explicit and comprehensive discussion on security of tenure can be found in commentary and observations adopted by the Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights. Other United Nations human rights mechanisms, like their regional and national counterparts, have focused overwhelmingly on preventing and providing redress for forced evictions, while giving only limited attention to other elements of security of tenure.
- 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
- Social & Cultural Rights
- Person(s) affected
- All
- Year
- 2013
- Date modified
- Feb 14, 2020
Paragraph
Mapping and framing security of tenure 2013, para. 45
- Paragraph text
- Regional and national case law, global governance frameworks relating to land tenure and human settlements, and selected national constitutional and legislative frameworks were examined in order to supplement an understanding of international human rights law and to assist in identifying potential gaps and challenges.
- 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
- N.A.
- Year
- 2013
- Date modified
- Feb 14, 2020
Paragraph
Mapping and framing security of tenure 2013, para. 44
- Paragraph text
- Security of tenure is recognized as a key component of the right to adequate housing under international human rights law. The Special Rapporteur conducted comprehensive research into the various sources of international human rights law, and especially the authoritive guidance and commentary of United Nations human rights mechanisms, in order to identify States' obligations relating to security of tenure.
- 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
- N.A.
- Year
- 2013
- Date modified
- Feb 14, 2020
Paragraph
Mapping and framing security of tenure 2013, para. 86
- Paragraph text
- Regulations on "inclusionary zoning", which provide that any new city development must include "mixed types of housing", including a minimum percentage for social housing, are another positive example. Several cities in Canada and the United States have adopted such measures, while they are also envisaged in planning legislations in Colombia, France and the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland.
- 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
- Social & Cultural Rights
- Person(s) affected
- N.A.
- Year
- 2013
- Date modified
- Feb 14, 2020
Paragraph
Mapping and framing security of tenure 2013, para. 53
- Paragraph text
- As noted above, the Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights has stressed that all persons should possess a degree of security of tenure which guarantees legal protection against forced eviction, harassment and other threats. The Commission on Human Rights, in its resolution 1993/77 (para. 3), similarly urged Governments to confer legal security of tenure on all persons currently threatened with forced eviction.
- 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
- Social & Cultural Rights
- Person(s) affected
- All
- Year
- 2013
- Date modified
- Feb 14, 2020
Paragraph
Mapping and framing security of tenure 2013, para. 8
- Paragraph text
- Tenure insecurity is a global phenomenon. Yet, assessing the nature and scale of the problem is fraught with difficulties of definition as well as measurement, and precise data is not available. This is because tenure security is partly a matter of perception and experience, highly dependent on political, economic and cultural context, as well as a legal issue.
- 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
- N.A.
- Year
- 2013
- Date modified
- Feb 14, 2020
Paragraph
Mapping and framing security of tenure 2013, para. 50
- Paragraph text
- States are also called upon to confer security of tenure to all those who lack it. This seems to imply that one focus of State action should be on the most disadvantaged and insecure. An examination of the authoritive guidance of United Nations mechanisms confirms that States must secure tenure particularly for the most disadvantaged and marginalized, such as low-income groups, informal settlers, and minorities.
- 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
- Person(s) affected
- Ethnic minorities
- Year
- 2013
- Date modified
- Feb 14, 2020
Paragraph
Mapping and framing security of tenure 2013, para. 58
- Paragraph text
- The Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights has noted that tenure "takes a variety of forms, including rental (public and private) accommodation, cooperative housing, lease, owner-occupation, emergency housing and informal settlements, including occupation of land or property". Thus the Committee reflects the diversity of tenure arrangements worldwide.
- 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
- Date modified
- Feb 14, 2020
Paragraph
Reflection on work undertaken in first 14 years of the mandate; outline of opportunities and priorities 2014, para. 48
- Paragraph text
- The fact that the rights to non-discrimination and equality in housing may require positive obligations to address and ameliorate existing patterns of disadvantage is often ignored. Much more can be done to ensure that the principles of non-discrimination and equality are fully incorporated into housing policies, programmes, legislation and budgetary allocations.
- 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
- N.A.
- Year
- 2014
- Date modified
- Feb 14, 2020
Paragraph
Mapping and framing security of tenure 2013, para. 76
- Paragraph text
- Titling is not just a matter of formalizing informal arrangements that already exist. Very often, contradictory claims of ownership arise following the announcements of titling programmes. A related difficulty has been that titling of contested plots involves politically contentious decisions about the allocation of rights and thus is difficult to advance-this is often the case in informal settlements.
- 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
- Social & Cultural Rights
- Person(s) affected
- N.A.
- Year
- 2013
- Date modified
- Feb 14, 2020
Paragraph
Reflection on work undertaken in first 14 years of the mandate; outline of opportunities and priorities 2014, para. 60
- Paragraph text
- Addressing the housing conditions of persons in vulnerable situations and those in situations of exclusion and marginalization will be a priority of the mandate. The Special Rapporteur will continue to focus on non-discrimination and equality in the context of housing and ensure that all of her work is informed by the key principles of equality and non-discrimination.
- 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
- N.A.
- Year
- 2014
- Date modified
- Feb 14, 2020
Paragraph
Reflection on work undertaken in first 14 years of the mandate; outline of opportunities and priorities 2014, para. 50
- Paragraph text
- Under international human rights law, it is the State that is held responsible for the compliance with international human rights to which it is bound. The focus of monitoring and constructive dialogue at the international level has been on national Governments.
- 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
- 2014
- Date modified
- Feb 14, 2020
Paragraph
Reflection on work undertaken in first 14 years of the mandate; outline of opportunities and priorities 2014, para. 29
- Paragraph text
- Central to State obligations with respect to the right to adequate housing is the obligation to take positive measures to realize that right. According to article 2.1 of the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, the State is obliged to take steps, through international assistance and cooperation, to the maximum of its available resources, with a view to achieving progressively the full realization of the right by all appropriate means, including particularly the adoption of legislative measures. Historically, however, the obligation of States to take steps or positive measures to realize the right to adequate housing has not received as much attention in the development of legal norms as other aspects of States' obligations. Legal norms have focused more often on State action that interferes with the right to adequate housing. As a result, at the international level there is more clarity about legal norms applied to forced evictions and comparatively less about the positive obligation to address homelessness or to allocate the resources necessary to ensure access to housing for marginalized groups. Similarly, domestic courts tend to deal with more cases and develop more jurisprudence on evictions and service disconnections than on failures to prioritize the development of services for informal settlements.
- 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
- Movement
- Social & Cultural Rights
- Person(s) affected
- All
- Year
- 2014
- Date modified
- Feb 14, 2020
Paragraph
Mapping and framing security of tenure 2013, para. 63
- Paragraph text
- While non-discrimination is relevant to all groups and individuals, and all grounds of non-discrimination are potentially relevant to tenure security, the Special Rapporteur focuses here on issues of non-discrimination on account of property status, location and socioeconomic status, which are less often discussed in the human rights framework.
- 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
- Person(s) affected
- N.A.
- Year
- 2013
- Date modified
- Feb 14, 2020
Paragraph
Mapping and framing security of tenure 2013, para. 5
- Paragraph text
- Conflicts and natural disasters, including those exacerbated by climate change, also trigger displacement and can undermine security of tenure. Over 26 million people were internally displaced at the end of 2011 due to armed conflicts, violence or human rights violations, while nearly 15 million were displaced due to natural hazards.
- 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
- Movement
- Person(s) affected
- Persons on the move
- Year
- 2013
- Date modified
- Feb 14, 2020
Paragraph