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Financialization of housing and the right to adequate housing 2017, para. 29
- Paragraph text
- What is so stark about the pouring of those vast amounts of money into housing is that hardly any of it is directed towards ameliorating the insufferable housing conditions in which millions live. If even a portion of those amounts was directed towards affordable housing and access to credit for people in need of it, target 11.1 of the Sustainable Development Goals, to ensure adequate housing for all by 2030, would be well within reach. Financialization under current regimes, however, creates the opposite effect: unaccountable markets that do not respond to housing need, and urban centres that become the sole preserve of those with 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
- Social & Cultural Rights
- Person(s) affected
- All
- Year
- 2017
Paragraph
Financialization of housing and the right to adequate housing 2017, para. 41
- Paragraph text
- In circumstances where Governments should be relying on positive measures and resource allocation to provide housing to households affected by economic downturns and widespread unemployment, many have been held accountable to austerity measures imposed by creditors. They have agreed to dramatically reduce or eliminate housing programmes, privatize social housing and sell off massive amounts of housing and real estate assets to private equity funds.
- Body
- 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
- 2017
Paragraph
Financialization of housing and the right to adequate housing 2017, para. 62
- Paragraph text
- Emerging norms for business and human rights and increased attention to corporate social responsibility offer additional avenues through which to pursue enhanced accountability and effective remedies for violations of human rights linked 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)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Social & Cultural Rights
- Person(s) affected
- All
- Year
- 2017
Paragraph
Financialization of housing and the right to adequate housing 2017, para. 1
- Paragraph text
- The expanding role and unprecedented dominance of financial markets and corporations in the housing sector is now generally referred to as the "financialization of housing". The term has a number of meanings. In the present report, the "financialization of housing" refers to structural changes in housing and financial markets and global investment whereby housing is treated as a commodity, a means of accumulating wealth and often as security for financial instruments that are traded and sold on global markets. It refers to the way capital investment in housing increasingly disconnects housing from its social function of providing a place to live in security and dignity and hence undermines the realization of housing as a human right. It refers to the way housing and financial markets are oblivious to people and communities, and the role housing plays in their 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)
- Economic Rights
- Equality & Inclusion
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Social & Cultural Rights
- Person(s) affected
- All
- Year
- 2017
Paragraph
Financialization of housing and the right to adequate housing 2017, para. 13
- Paragraph text
- States' human rights obligations are commonly categorized on the basis of a tripartite division of obligations to respect, protect and fulfil human rights. A State must respect the right to housing by refraining from taking any action that would violate that right, protect individuals and communities from violations of the right to housing by third parties and fulfil the right to adequate housing to the maximum of its available resources, with a view to achieving progressively its full realization by all appropriate means, including particularly the adoption of legislative measures. The obligation to fulfil the right to housing includes adopting and implementing, in collaboration with stakeholders, strategies for the realization of the right to housing that clarify the responsibilities and roles of all levels of government, institutions and private actors, with goals, timelines, accountability mechanisms, appropriate budgetary allocations and measures to ensure 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
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Social & Cultural Rights
- Person(s) affected
- All
- Year
- 2017
Paragraph
Financialization of housing and the right to adequate housing 2017, para. 60
- Paragraph text
- In the first case to be considered by the Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights under the Optional Protocol to the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, I.D.G. v. Spain, the Committee considered States' obligations to ensure access to justice in the context of mortgage foreclosure. As a result of a domestic court's lack of diligence, the author of the communication had not received notification of mortgage enforcement proceedings and received no other communication prior to an auction order. In those circumstances, the Committee found that the author's right to access to justice to protect the right to housing had been violated. The Committee found that "such notice in respect of a foreclosure application needs to be adequate, in accordance with the standards of the Covenant applicable to the right to housing". The Committee clarified that Spain should ensure that no eviction takes place without due process guarantees, affirming that "the right to housing should be ensured to all persons irrespective of income or access to economic 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
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Social & Cultural Rights
- Person(s) affected
- All
- Year
- 2017
Paragraph
Financialization of housing and the right to adequate housing 2017, para. 10
- Paragraph text
- The report builds on important work undertaken by the previous Special Rapporteur on the right to housing. In her 2012 report on the impact of finance policies on the right to housing of those living in poverty (A/67/286), she warned of emerging trends towards the financialization of housing encouraged by States' abandonment of social housing programmes and increased reliance on private market solutions. She documented attempts by States to rely on the private market and homeownership, which increases inequality and fails to address the housing needs of low-income and marginalized groups. More fundamentally, she called for a paradigm shift through which housing would once again be recognized as a fundamental human right rather than as a commodity. The present report takes up that challenge.
- Body
- 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
- 2017
Paragraph
Financialization of housing and the right to adequate housing 2017, para. 31
- Paragraph text
- Financialized housing markets respond to preferences of global investors rather than to the needs of communities. The average income of households in the community or the kinds of housing they would like to inhabit is of little concern to financial investors, who cater to the needs or desires of speculative markets and are likely to replace affordable housing that is needed with luxury housing that sits vacant because that is how best to turn a profit quickly. Financialized housing thus precipitates what has been referred to as "residential alienation", the loss of the critical relationship to housing as a dwelling and the diverse set of social relationships that give it meaning. In financialized housing markets, those making decisions about housing - its use, its cost, where it will be built or whether it will be demolished - do so from remote board rooms with no engagement with or accountability to the communities in which their "assets" are located.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on adequate housing as a component of the right to an adequate standard of living
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Economic Rights
- Equality & Inclusion
- Social & Cultural Rights
- Person(s) affected
- All
- Year
- 2017
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
Paragraph
Homelessness as a global human rights crisis that demands an urgent global response 2016, para. 26
- Paragraph text
- Dichotomies of legal/illegal, formal/informal and deserving/undeserving applied in the global South parallel the criminalization of homelessness in northern countries. The urban poor are made "illegal" and "encroachers" by the denial of fair access to land and legal status or title. People who have been rendered homeless in urban centres are relocated to city peripheries and deprived of economic opportunities and social networks, a process that has been labelled "socio-spatial stigmatization".
- Body
- 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
Paragraph
The right to life and the right to adequate housing: the indivisibility and interdependence between these rights 2016, para. 28
- Paragraph text
- In its general comment No. 4 on the right to adequate housing, the Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights rejected definitions of adequate housing that focused on physical shelter and instead adopted a definition linked directly to the right to life. The Committee stated the following: The right to housing should not be interpreted in a narrow or restrictive sense which equates it with, for example, the shelter provided by merely having a roof over one's head or views shelter exclusively as a commodity. Rather it should be seen as the right to live somewhere in security, peace and 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
- Social & Cultural Rights
- Person(s) affected
- All
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
The right to life and the right to adequate housing: the indivisibility and interdependence between these rights 2016, para. 41
- Paragraph text
- A refusal to hear, adjudicate and provide remedies for the category of claims to the right to life arising from systemic deprivations such as homelessness has immense consequences extending beyond the United Nations treaty monitoring system. It reinforces a negative rights practice which continues to deny access to justice for many of the most serious violations of the right to life in many jurisdictions. Often, the negative rights framework limits the types of cases for which victims are likely to have access to legal counsel, affects the kinds of arguments that lawyers are likely to advance, determines the cases courts are likely to hear and limits the remedies that might be sought and granted.
- Body
- 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
Paragraph
The right to life and the right to adequate housing: the indivisibility and interdependence between these rights 2016, para. 70
- Paragraph text
- The narrowing of the right to life to a negative rights framework has deprived millions of already disadvantaged individuals of the full protection of this core right. In many domestic contexts, the right to housing may not be enshrined in law and cannot be claimed directly, whereas the right to life appears in most constitutions. In this context, a narrow interpretation of the right to life may prevent someone who is homeless or suffering severe housing inadequacy from making any human rights claim whatsoever. On the other hand, where the right to adequate housing is explicitly protected as a self-standing constitutional right, it is more effectively enforced by courts when connected to the right to life. Making this connection allows courts to better assess whether adequate resources have been allocated and reasonable measures taken in accordance with core human rights values.
- Body
- 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
Paragraph
Homelessness as a global human rights crisis that demands an urgent global response 2016, para. 16
- Paragraph text
- From a human rights perspective, the Special Rapporteur advocates a flexible and contextual approach to defining homelessness that recognizes experiences and understandings of homelessness among different groups and in diverse circumstances. A human rights definition should focus attention on the most desperate situations while ensuring that those who are homeless identify those circumstances themselves, define their needs and are recognized as actors in effecting change to fully realize their right to adequate housing. The social dimensions of homelessness are also central to a human rights definition.
- Body
- 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
Paragraph
Homelessness as a global human rights crisis that demands an urgent global response 2016, para. 19
- Paragraph text
- Those who are homeless are constructed as a social group. Worldwide, their identity is created and then reinforced by people who have more money, more power or more influence. It is a vicious circle. Laws, policies, business practices and media stories depict and treat homeless people as morally inferior, undeserving of assistance and authors of their own misfortune, and blame them for the social problems they come to represent. Once stigmatized, their needs are further neglected and inequality and discrimination further entrenched.
- Body
- 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
Paragraph
Homelessness as a global human rights crisis that demands an urgent global response 2016, para. 25
- Paragraph text
- The favouring of profit over people's human rights through the unequal allocation of land, property, housing and related services in cities is a major driver of homelessness. Unregulated or underregulated financial and other market forces, and unfettered land and property speculation resulting in escalating land values, all contribute to the inequality of wealth distribution and homelessness. These systemic inequalities are compounded by direct discrimination against people who are poor, often pushing them to precarious housing conditions, including into informal settlements or on occupied land, and ultimately into homelessness. Many municipalities use planning and zoning laws or regulations to prevent construction of shelters or affordable housing in their communities. Homeless people are often denied opportunities to live in central locations; instead, they are compelled to live in remote, isolated and poorly serviced areas where there are no jobs.
- Body
- 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
- 2016
Paragraph
Homelessness as a global human rights crisis that demands an urgent global response 2016, para. 29
- Paragraph text
- Rapid global urbanization has resulted in an astonishing accumulation of wealth for a few, accompanied by increasing poverty for many. Reliance on private market housing supply to respond to urbanization needs has meant that new housing supply has targeted mostly the rich, creating inflated real estate values, speculation and significant deficits of affordable housing. People who move to cities often have no choice but to live in informal settlements where millions suffer, in varying degrees, from poor sanitation, lack of access to clean water, overcrowding and makeshift structures. Instead of ensuring access for people in need of housing, land regulations, planning and zoning have rendered informal settlements "illegal", favoured commercial development over housing and failed to respect the social function of land as a public good. The legacy of colonialism in some countries has embedded inequality in land and property.
- Body
- 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
- Water & Sanitation
- Person(s) affected
- All
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Homelessness as a global human rights crisis that demands an urgent global response 2016, para. 27
- Paragraph text
- Widespread and severe discrimination and stigmatization on the ground of homelessness has rarely been addressed effectively by national human rights institutions or subjected to effective judicial or administrative remedies, and only rarely recognized in domestic legislation as a prohibited form of 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
- All
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Homelessness as a global human rights crisis that demands an urgent global response 2016, para. 91i
- Paragraph text
- [In line with the present conclusions, the Special Rapporteur offers the following recommendations to States:] National and local governments must re-engage and recommit to their role of providing social protection and ensuring access to affordable housing for marginalized and vulnerable groups, reaffirming that housing is a human right rather than a commodity. Subnational governments must have access to adequate resources to meet their allocated 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)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Social & Cultural Rights
- Person(s) affected
- All
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
The right to life and the right to adequate housing: the indivisibility and interdependence between these rights 2016, para. 60
- Paragraph text
- The European Committee of Social Rights has consistently emphasized that the "right to shelter is closely connected to the right to life and to the right to respect of every person's human dignity". In this context, it has not only addressed violations of rights linked to State action, such as evictions, but has issued far-reaching decisions regarding systemic violations and affirmed obligations to develop and implement national strategies and legislation to address homelessness and inadequate 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
- 2016
Paragraph
Homelessness as a global human rights crisis that demands an urgent global response 2016, para. 49e
- Paragraph text
- [State obligations in relation to homelessness have been clearly articulated and can be summarized as follows:] States have an immediate obligation to ensure that every decision or policy is consistent with the goal of the elimination of homelessness. Any decision that results in homelessness must be regarded as unacceptable and contrary to human rights. Policy and planning must apply the maximum of available resources, including unused or vacant lands and housing units, with a view to ensuring access to land and housing for marginalized 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
- Person(s) affected
- All
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Homelessness as a global human rights crisis that demands an urgent global response 2016, para. 61
- Paragraph text
- The Constitutional Court of South Africa ordered the Government to devise and implement a comprehensive and coordinated programme to realize the right to adequate housing that prioritizes those in most urgent need. In the context of forced evictions, the Court has implemented a number of protections for those threatened with homelessness, including imposing on all levels of government a duty to meaningfully engage with communities involved in resettlement and recognizing the obligations of private landlords to ensure that no one is evicted into 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
- Person(s) affected
- All
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Homelessness as a global human rights crisis that demands an urgent global response 2016, para. 63
- Paragraph text
- In Argentina, the non-governmental organization Centro de Estudios Legales y Sociales has integrated test-case litigation to advance the right to adequate housing for homeless people with political initiatives, in order to change the way land, property and housing is distributed and ensure broader access to justice. The newly adopted Law for the Province of Buenos Aires on Access to Dignified Habitat affirms a number of guiding principles, including the right to the city, the social function of property, meaningful democratic participation and equitable sharing of benefits of urbanization.
- Body
- 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
Paragraph
Homelessness as a global human rights crisis that demands an urgent global response 2016, para. 91j
- Paragraph text
- [In line with the present conclusions, the Special Rapporteur offers the following recommendations to States:] Any evictions that may result in homelessness, including those intended to render homeless people less visible, such as to promote tourism or facilitate mega events, must be recognized under domestic law as gross violations of human rights and be immediately stopped. Forced evictions must not occur without prior meaningful consultation with affected groups, an exploration of all alternatives, including in situ upgrading, and the implementation of agreed-upon resettlement options for those 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
- Social & Cultural Rights
- Person(s) affected
- All
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
The right to life and the right to adequate housing: the indivisibility and interdependence between these rights 2016, para. 68
- Paragraph text
- The starting point for understanding the scope of the right to life should be what rights holders are entitled to, not the cause of the deprivation. Homelessness and grossly inadequate housing may be the result of actions leading to eviction and deportation, but equally may result from inaction - a failure to address long-term systemic patterns of social exclusion and deprivation. Nevertheless, the deprivation experienced is essentially the same: preventable illnesses, a shortened lifespan and deprivation of 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
- Social & Cultural Rights
- Person(s) affected
- All
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
The right to life and the right to adequate housing: the indivisibility and interdependence between these rights 2016, para. 11
- Paragraph text
- An estimated one third of deaths worldwide are linked to poverty and inadequate housing and the immense impact of substandard housing and homelessness on the rights to life, security and dignity for the most vulnerable populations is undeniable. The following examples, focusing on the lived experiences of particular groups in particular circumstances, offer a deeper understanding of the intersections between the right to housing and 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
- Poverty
- Social & Cultural Rights
- Person(s) affected
- All
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
The right to life and the right to adequate housing: the indivisibility and interdependence between these rights 2016, para. 27
- Paragraph text
- Lived experience illustrates that adequate housing, dignity, security and life are so closely intertwined as to be essentially inseparable. The same is true in international human rights law. The right to life cannot be separated from the right to a secure place to live, and the right to a secure place to live only has meaning in the context of a right to live in dignity and security, free of 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)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Social & Cultural Rights
- Person(s) affected
- All
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
The right to life and the right to adequate housing: the indivisibility and interdependence between these rights 2016, para. 47
- Paragraph text
- Of particular note is the recognition by the Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights that the implementation of the right to adequate housing in domestic law often relies on courts and governments recognizing that the right to life is indivisible from the right to housing and other socioeconomic rights. The Committee has emphasized that, in circumstances where the right to adequate housing does not enjoy explicit constitutional protection but the right to life does, governments and courts are obliged to interpret the right to life so as to ensure access to effective remedies for Covenant rights (see E/C.12/CAN/CO/6, paras. 5 and 6).
- Body
- 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
Paragraph
The right to life and the right to adequate housing: the indivisibility and interdependence between these rights 2016, para. 48
- Paragraph text
- The Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights has implicitly relied on the interdependence of the right to life and the right to adequate housing to identify deprivations of rights that must be addressed on a priority basis. The Committee has applied the concept of the "minimum core content" of rights, introduced in its general comment No. 3, to identify "minimum essential levels" of Covenant rights, such as essential foodstuffs or basic shelter. The Committee has stated that in circumstances of systemic deprivations of these essential levels, the State is "prima facie, failing to discharge its obligations under the Covenant".
- Body
- 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
Paragraph
The right to life and the right to adequate housing: the indivisibility and interdependence between these rights 2016, para. 49
- Paragraph text
- The concept of "minimum core content" has engendered considerable debate and discussion. Some courts have expressed doubts about its practical implementation. Yet there is general agreement that where significant numbers of people are denied basic requirements of life, such violations demand urgent responses. In the Special Rapporteur's view, an emphasis on the intersection of the right to life and the right to adequate housing in order to identify needs that must be addressed on an urgent basis would help to clarify State obligations to address the most serious deprivations, even in circumstances of scarce resources. Such an approach does not require attempting to define universally applicable minimum requirements of adequate housing and would rely instead on a contextual assessment of lived experience in relation to core human rights values.
- Body
- 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
Paragraph