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Financialization of housing and the right to adequate housing 2017, para. 17
- Paragraph text
- The Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights has suggested that the obligation to fulfil incorporates both an obligation to facilitate and an obligation to provide. In the context of the critical relationship between housing and financial markets, the articulation of a State's fulfilment obligation to not only provide housing when needed but also to facilitate the implementation of the right to housing is helpful in capturing the wide range of States' obligations to ensure that financial markets and the actions of private investors work towards 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)
- Economic Rights
- Equality & Inclusion
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Social & Cultural Rights
- Person(s) affected
- N.A.
- Year
- 2017
Paragraph
Financialization of housing and the right to adequate housing 2017, para. 55
- Paragraph text
- The mere threat of those kinds of claims can have a directive effect on State housing policy. Investment treaty arbitration frequently involves millions of dollars in damages, and thus acts as a disincentive for States to enact and enforce any regulatory measures restricting the profitability of housing or real estate assets purchased by foreign investors. Those whose right to adequate housing may have been infringed by States' failures to regulate the activities and speculative profits of foreign investors, on the other hand, have few if any avenues of redress, and certainly no ability to seek damages in the amounts claimed by private investors. The imbalance in access to remedies creates an imbalance in State accountability and priorities.
- Body
- 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
Paragraph
Financialization of housing and the right to adequate housing 2017, para. 50
- Paragraph text
- In many developing and emerging economies, the World Bank and other international and regional financial institutions continue to actively promote the financialization of housing as the dominant strategy for addressing the critical need for housing, despite evidence that such strategies fail to provide housing options to the households that are most in need, and lead to greater socioeconomic inequality. World Bank development programmes concentrate on what they consider to be the building blocks of housing finance such as title registration, foreclosure procedures, lending regulations, long-term funding instruments, and improving the liquidity of mortgage assets in order to reduce the costs of credit-risk underwriting for investors. Those policies, combined in many cases with austerity measures that reduce social protection and housing programmes, have meant that development programmes frequently support the emergence of a financialized housing system that may be at odds with States' obligations to prioritize the needs of those in the most desperate 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)
- Economic Rights
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Social & Cultural Rights
- Person(s) affected
- N.A.
- Year
- 2017
Paragraph
Financialization of housing and the right to adequate housing 2017, para. 77d
- 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:] Business and human rights guidelines should, on a priority basis, be developed specifically for financial actors operating in the housing system;
- Body
- 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
Paragraph
Financialization of housing and the right to adequate housing 2017, para. 39
- Paragraph text
- The financialization of housing has dramatically altered the relationship of States to the housing sector and to those to whom they have human rights obligations. Rather than being held accountable to residents and their need for housing, States' housing policies have often become accountable to financial institutions and seem to pander to the confidence of global credit markets and the preferences of wealthy private investors. Given the predominance of housing-related credit in many economies, domestic housing policy becomes intertwined with the priorities and strategies of central banks and international financial institutions, which are themselves rarely held accountable to States' human rights obligations to ensure access to adequate housing and do not meaningfully engage with 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)
- Economic Rights
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Social & Cultural Rights
- Person(s) affected
- N.A.
- Year
- 2017
Paragraph
Financialization of housing and the right to adequate housing 2017, para. 70
- Paragraph text
- A number of States, including Austria, China, the Philippines, Thailand and Viet Nam, have instituted restrictions on foreign purchasers of residential real estate. The province of British Columbia in Canada has introduced a 15 per cent foreign homeowner tax. The City of Vancouver recently approved a 1 per cent tax, which would apply to both foreign and domestic investors, on vacant homes in order to address the issue of approximately 20,000 vacant homes in its overheated speculative housing market. Net revenue from those taxes is to be invested in affordable housing initiatives.
- Body
- 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
- 2017
Paragraph
Financialization of housing and the right to adequate housing 2017, para. 3
- Paragraph text
- Housing and commercial real estate have become the "commodity of choice" for corporate finance and the pace at which financial corporations and funds are taking over housing and real estate in many cities is staggering. The value of global real estate is about US$ 217 trillion, nearly 60 per cent of the value of all global assets, with residential real estate comprising 75 per cent of the total. In the course of one year, from mid-2013 to mid-2014, corporate buying of larger properties in the top 100 recipient global cities rose from US$ 600 billion to US$ 1 trillion. Housing is at the centre of an historic structural transformation in global investment and the economies of the industrialized world with profound consequences for those in need 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)
- Economic Rights
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Person(s) affected
- N.A.
- Year
- 2017
Paragraph
Financialization of housing and the right to adequate housing 2017, para. 40
- Paragraph text
- Accountability to global finance rather than to human rights has been rigorously imposed by the International Monetary Fund and other creditors when Governments have faced foreign debt crises. Decisions made by central banks and finance ministers in consultation with international financial institutions are rarely informed by input from stakeholders or those involved with housing policy and programmes. Processes put in place to address the debt crisis in Central, Eastern and South-Eastern Europe through the "Vienna Initiative" for example, brought together "key stakeholders", identified as national central banks and Western European parent banks along with multiple regional and international financial institutions. Absent were civil society groups and anyone representing the interests of borrowing households, the people most affected by any decisions 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)
- Economic Rights
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Person(s) affected
- N.A.
- Year
- 2017
Paragraph
Financialization of housing and the right to adequate housing 2017, para. 42
- Paragraph text
- As noted by the Institute for Human Rights and Business, global financial institutions with representations from central bank governors and ministers of finance, "seem generally remote from stakeholder engagement. These institutions are independent self-governing bodies with their own rules of procedure and are not directly accountable to the public." Governments relying on the financial system and financialized housing assets to service their own debt are not encouraged by global financial institutions to manage housing systems for compliance with human rights. They are more likely to be urged to cut housing programmes and social protection programmes to comply with the demands and economic theories of financial corporations and credit agencies.
- Body
- 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
- N.A.
- Year
- 2017
Paragraph
Financialization of housing and the right to adequate housing 2017, para. 32
- Paragraph text
- Many corporate owners of housing are nameless. In the first fiscal quarter of 2015, 58 per cent of all property purchases over $3 million in the United States were made by limited liability companies rather than named people, and the majority of those purchases were in cash, creating a greater level of anonymity. More than 36,000 properties in London are held by shell companies registered in offshore havens such as Bermuda, the British Virgin Islands, the Isle of Man and Jersey.
- Body
- 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
Paragraph
Financialization of housing and the right to adequate housing 2017, para. 27
- Paragraph text
- Corporate finance does not only profit from inflated prices in hedge cities, it also profits from housing crises. The global financial crisis created unprecedented opportunities for buying distressed housing and real estate debt, which was sold off at fire sale prices in countries such as Ireland, Spain, the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland and the United States of America. The Blackstone Group, the world's largest real estate private equity firm, managing $102 billion worth of property, spent $10 billion to purchase repossessed properties in the United States of America at courthouses and in online auctions following the 2008 financial crisis, emerging as the largest rental landlord in the country. Other major institutional players invested $20 billion to purchase approximately 200,000 single-family homes in the United States between 2012 and mid-2013. With the recovery of the United States housing market, Blackstone and other private equity firms have sought to take advantage of other buying opportunities in Europe and Asia. Cushman and Wakefield estimated that there was over €541 billion of distressed real estate debt in Europe in 2015, much of it held by public asset management companies such as the National Asset Management Agency in Ireland and the Sociedad de Gestión de Activos Procedentes de la Reestructuración Bancaria (company for the management of assets proceeding from the restructuring of the banking system) in Spain. The vast majority of that debt is being purchased by giant private equity firms.
- Body
- 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
Paragraph
Financialization of housing and the right to adequate housing 2017, para. 14
- Paragraph text
- The tripartite obligations of States in relation to the management of financial markets and the regulation of private actors are often interpreted too narrowly. Under international human rights law, States' obligations in relation to private investment in housing and the governance of financial markets extend well beyond a traditional understanding of the duty to simply prevent private actors from actively violating rights. The assumption, bolstered by neo-liberalism, that States should simply allow markets to work according to their own rules, subject only to the requirement that private actors "do no harm" and do not violate the rights of others, is simply not in accordance with the important obligation to fulfil the right to adequate housing by all appropriate means, including legislative measures.
- Body
- 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
- Person(s) affected
- N.A.
- Year
- 2017
Paragraph
Financialization of housing and the right to adequate housing 2017, para. 59
- Paragraph text
- In some jurisdictions, foreclosures for mortgage default are not permitted and alternative procedures are limited by statute. Foreclosure was abolished in Ireland following the 2008 financial crisis, with an equivalent procedure to foreclosure provided, however, to the public asset management company, the National Asset Management Agency. In Brazil, foreclosures are prohibited by law where residential properties are used by their owners for dwelling purposes, although creditors have developed ways of circumventing those restrictions. In China, there are provisions for many other options for collecting outstanding debts, with foreclosure only being permitted when all other options have been exhausted. In Spain, however, mortgage arrears are not considered to have been discharged by a foreclosure, which means indebted homeowners are required to continue to make payments on outstanding arrears even after having lost their home.
- Body
- 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
Paragraph
Financialization of housing and the right to adequate housing 2017, para. 66
- Paragraph text
- Business and human rights guidelines in the housing sector must recognize the responsibility of private investors and the obligations of regulators of capital markets to ensure that the needs of vulnerable and marginalized groups are adequately addressed through inclusive investment strategies and to contribute to the realization of the right to housing and the implementation of the 2030 Agenda and the New Urban Agenda.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on adequate housing as a component of the right to an adequate standard of living
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Economic Rights
- Equality & Inclusion
- Social & Cultural Rights
- Person(s) affected
- N.A.
- Year
- 2017
Paragraph
Financialization of housing and the right to adequate housing 2017, para. 9
- Paragraph text
- Constructing human rights accountability within a complex financial system to which Governments are themselves accountable, involving trillions of dollars in assets, may seem a daunting task. However, the global community cannot afford to be cowered by the complexity of financialization. The present report aims to cut through some of the complexity and opaqueness of finance in housing to expose the central relevance and necessity of the human rights paradigm at multiple levels, from the international to the local.
- Body
- 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
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
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
Paragraph
Financialization of housing and the right to adequate housing 2017, para. 19
- Paragraph text
- The financialization of housing has its origins in neo-liberalism, the deregulation of housing markets, and structural adjustment programmes imposed by financial institutions and agreed to by States. It is also tied to the internationalization of trade and investment agreements which, as discussed below, make States' housing policies accountable to investors rather than to human rights. The financialization of housing is also the result of significant changes in the way credit was provided for housing and more specifically, of the advent of "mortgage-backed securities".
- Body
- 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
Paragraph
Financialization of housing and the right to adequate housing 2017, para. 75
- Paragraph text
- Despite the positive elements of some States' policy responses, overall responses have tended to be sporadic and reactive, addressing overheated markets or providing limited initiatives to expand access to credit. The broader systemic issues of financialization and commodification of housing remain largely unaddressed. What is lacking is for States to reclaim the governance of housing systems from global credit markets and, in collaboration with affected communities and with cooperation and engagement by central banks and financial institutions, redesign housing finance and global investment in housing around the goal of ensuring access to 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
Paragraph
Financialization of housing and the right to adequate housing 2017, para. 77c
- 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:] Trade and investment treaties should recognize the paramountcy of human rights, including the right to housing, and ensure that States are fully empowered to regulate private investment so as to ensure the realization of 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
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Person(s) affected
- N.A.
- Year
- 2017
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
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
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
Paragraph
Responsibilities of local and other subnational governments in relation to the right to adequate housing 2015, para. 12
- Paragraph text
- General patterns demonstrate that certain responsibilities are often exercised more effectively by national level governments while other responsibilities tend to be better suited to local governments. National level governments are often better placed to ensure a fair distribution of resources, so that areas with fewer resources and greater needs are not simply left to fend for themselves. National level governments usually have greater capacity to develop and enforce national standards, to monitor and compare programmes and outcomes in different regions and localities, to finance housing programmes, regulate mortgages and credit, fund housing subsidy and income support programmes, and oversee taxation and resource allocation. To varying degrees, national governments may also attempt to influence or direct the policies of local and other subnational governments through incentives, conditions, priorities or required outcomes linked to the provision of funding for locally administered 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)
- Economic Rights
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Person(s) affected
- N.A.
- Year
- 2015
Paragraph
Responsibilities of local and other subnational governments in relation to the right to adequate housing 2015, para. 14
- Paragraph text
- In unitary States, central governments generally hold primary responsibility for planning, programming, regulation and funding of housing. Mortgage programmes, subsidies, cash transfer programmes and other measures to address lack of housing among vulnerable groups are managed nationally. Those programmes, however, rely on local implementation, allowing varying degrees of autonomy to regions and municipalities/districts or cities.
- Body
- 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
- 2015
Paragraph
Centrality of the right to adequate housing for the development and implementation of the New Urban Agenda to be adopted at Habitat III in October 2016 2015, para. 55
- Paragraph text
- Other urban patterns linked to land and property have increased inequality and social exclusion; these include privatization of social housing, public land and infrastructure; predatory lending practices; increased use of urban land and housing as investment assets within a globalized financial market; heightened control of urban land by wealthy individuals and corporate interests; environmental degradation of land and water in areas occupied by marginalized groups; unregulated real estate markets; conversion of land used for housing to commercial uses; land grabbing; and the disproportionate influence of private interests in land use 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
- Social & Cultural Rights
- Person(s) affected
- All
- N.A.
- Year
- 2015
Paragraph
Centrality of the right to adequate housing for the development and implementation of the New Urban Agenda to be adopted at Habitat III in October 2016 2015, para. 23
- Paragraph text
- An urban rights agenda must also ensure better understanding of the responsibilities and obligations of a broad spectrum of private and other non governmental actors, including public-private partnerships and large corporations as well as smaller real estate developers, those who provide rental accommodation and providers of services like waste management. The private sector has an increasingly central role in urban development and a direct impact on public policy at the urban level. The private sector must be properly regulated and incentivized to ensure that its actions or omissions do not undermine 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)
- Economic Rights
- Environment
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Person(s) affected
- N.A.
- Year
- 2015
Paragraph
Centrality of the right to adequate housing for the development and implementation of the New Urban Agenda to be adopted at Habitat III in October 2016 2015, para. 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
Paragraph
Responsibilities of local and other subnational governments in relation to the right to adequate housing 2015, para. 37
- Paragraph text
- Thematic reports and communications - two other mandated activities of special rapporteurs - also engage subnational governments with respect to their housing responsibilities. By way of illustration, the former Special Rapporteur on adequate housing, Raquel Rolnik, in her Guiding Principles on Security of Tenure for the Urban Poor, paid considerable attention to the role of local governments in ensuring security of tenure. Guiding principle No. 2, for example, suggests that States, including relevant authorities, should allocate sufficient funds to ministries, municipalities and local governments for the implementation of measures to improve security of tenure (A/HRC/25/54, para. 5).
- Body
- 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
- 2015
Paragraph
Guiding Principles on security of tenure for the urban poor 2014, para. 20
- Paragraph text
- Community land trusts (CLTs) are held by non-profit community-controlled organizations that acquire land for the purpose of providing affordable housing. Lands are removed from the speculative market to preserve affordability and made available through long-term leases for housing, businesses, urban agriculture and community facilities. CLTs have increased in popularity since the 1980s, especially in the United States where over 260 have been established. Community organizing, and land donations and financial support from municipal governments, are key to their success.
- Body
- 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
- N.A.
- Year
- 2014
Paragraph