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Migration and the right to adequate housing 2010, para. 21
- Paragraph text
- Discrimination is any differential treatment that is based on prohibited grounds of discrimination and that creates or maintains inequalities and disadvantages suffered by certain groups in society with respect to the enjoyment of human rights (see E/C.12/GC/20, para. 7). Direct discrimination exists when legislation or policies are adopted with a view to overtly privileging some groups in society to the detriment of others. However, when looking at discrimination, States should also look at indirect discrimination, which concerns measures that, without explicitly discriminating on certain grounds, might have a disproportionate impact on the exercise of human rights by a particular group (ibid., para. 10). Such apparently neutral measures, which de facto favour dominant cultures, are illegitimate and must be outlawed by States in order to ensure the full realization of the equality and non discrimination principle (ibid., para. 12).
- Body
- 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
- 2010
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Migration and the right to adequate housing 2010, para. 26
- Paragraph text
- With regard to the responsibility of private actors to respect human rights, the Special Representative of the Secretary-General on the issue of human rights and transnational corporations and other business enterprises, John Ruggie, has developed a framework to guide the business and human rights agenda, which is based on three principles: the State duty to protect against human rights abuses by third parties, the corporate responsibility to respect human rights and the need for more effective access to remedies for victims. Corporate responsibility requires specific human rights due diligence (to become aware of, prevent and mitigate the adverse human rights impact of activities and relationships of companies), and the provision of grievance mechanisms for victims of human rights abuses (see A/HRC/11/13).
- 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)
- Economic Rights
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Person(s) affected
- N.A.
- Year
- 2010
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Migration and the right to adequate housing 2010, para. 27
- Paragraph text
- Non-discrimination and equality also imply that States have the obligation to recognize and care for the differences and specific needs of groups that suffer particular housing challenges or that have been historically discriminated against in terms of access to housing and essential services by the State or private actors. Therefore, the obligation to ensure non-discrimination requires positive measures of protection to be applied to particular groups, even in times of emergency or financial constraint (see E/C.12/GC/20, paras. 9, 12 and 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
- Humanitarian
- Person(s) affected
- All
- N.A.
- Year
- 2010
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
The right to adequate housing in disaster relief efforts 2011, para. 21
- Paragraph text
- Similar limitations have been seen in post-disaster needs assessments. While conditions pertaining to tenure and land ownership may be discussed and recognized as important at the level of principle, they are not always addressed in policies, strategies and sectoral priorities in practice. For instance, in the disaster needs assessment carried out by international financial institutions and the Government of Pakistan following the floods, the proposed housing and reconstruction strategy made no mention of land ownership or tenure issues, but only focused on the techniques and costs of housing reconstruction. In addition, policy priorities for other sectors relevant to land, such as agriculture, were said to favour landowners.
- Body
- 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
- N.A.
- Year
- 2011
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
The right to adequate housing in disaster relief efforts 2011, para. 27
- Paragraph text
- The Principles, in their specific formulation and the mechanisms suggested to determine claims over property or land, are not entirely clear on the recognition of all forms of tenure rights. While some take an expansive view of the Principles, others have criticized them as being overly focused on individual property ownership and contexts of formal and registered claims. By referring "the rights of tenants and other non-owners" in a separate provision (principle 16), the Principles may be seen to question whether these are on an equal footing with individual property owners. Equally, the call in the same principle for mechanisms of property restitution to recognize, "to the maximum extent possible", those with rights to housing and land other than formal ownership needs clarification, although it could be seen as a practical suggestion rather than implying limitations to the entitlements of non-owners.
- Body
- 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
- 2011
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
The right to adequate housing in disaster relief efforts 2011, para. 29
- Paragraph text
- The Special Rapporteur suggests that housing and property restitution must be understood as the restitution of any right to tenure related to housing or land prior to disaster, irrespective of tenure status or whether the land or housing is formally registered. An example of such an approach can be found in the South Africa Restitution of Land Rights Act, and in recent operational guidance on durable solutions. Without pre-empting deeper discussion and clarification of their provisions, the Pinheiro Principles should be systematically viewed to embrace a wide ambit of situations and tenure rights. A number of elements in the Principles already point to an appropriately expansive conception of restitution, such as the systematic use of the term "housing, land and property" rather than only 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)
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Social & Cultural Rights
- Person(s) affected
- N.A.
- Year
- 2011
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
The right to adequate housing in disaster relief efforts 2011, para. 12
- Paragraph text
- On many occasions, vulnerability is compounded by direct or indirect discrimination, impacting on the ability of individuals and communities to protect themselves from disasters and to recover. The relevance of discrimination to disasters and disaster response may not be immediately apparent. Indeed, the term "natural disaster" could be taken as precluding responsibility, which may imply, in turn, the impossibility of discrimination. However, it is well accepted that the magnitude of impacts and distribution of losses from natural hazards are to a large extent man-made (see A/60/227). Disaster preparedness, mitigation and response are all subject to or conditioned by State action or omission, and may therefore be discriminatory.
- Body
- 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
- Humanitarian
- Person(s) affected
- N.A.
- Year
- 2011
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
The right to adequate housing in disaster relief efforts 2011, para. 36
- Paragraph text
- One step further are "community" or "participatory" enumeration practices. Such participatory processes have been implemented in various countries for various aims, for instance to determine and strengthen tenure rights in informal settlements or for land adjudication. In the absence of land records, in case of their destruction following disaster, or in context of multiple tenure arrangements, community enumerations offer promising and flexible alternatives to identify the state of occupancy and tenure pre-disaster or pre-conflict, thus ensuring a certain level of certainty and security of tenure in informdurable solutions. Community enumeration projects were implemented in the wake of the Indian Ocean tsunami, and have been started in Haiti. Lessons should be drawn from experience in defining key elements and prerequisites of successful community mapping processes, applied to post-disaster situations, including their relationship with more formal or Government-led validation or land management processes, and the need to complement them with conflict 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)
- Environment
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Humanitarian
- Person(s) affected
- N.A.
- Year
- 2011
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
The right to adequate housing in disaster relief efforts 2011, para. 63
- Paragraph text
- The recommendations below outline the fundamental elements of an approach to disaster response that is fully based on the right to adequate housing. They are meant to complement existing guidance when it comes to ensuring protection and realization of the right to adequate housing. Unless stated otherwise the recommendations are addressed to Governments, and international donors and organizations. Finally, recommendations for follow-up are provided, bearing in mind that the framework only outlines general principles that will need to be further refined and operationalized.
- Body
- 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
- Person(s) affected
- N.A.
- Year
- 2011
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
The right to adequate housing in disaster relief efforts 2011, para. 64.3
- Paragraph text
- [The Special Rapporteur makes the following recommendations:] The tenure rights of "non-formal owners", namely those without individual, formally registered, property ownership, should be honoured: In contexts where property and ownership are not formally registered, fast-track mechanisms to determine tenure rights, notably community-led processes (community enumeration), should be considered an essential element of and prerequisite to the implementation of restitution, reconstruction and recovery 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)
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Social & Cultural Rights
- Person(s) affected
- N.A.
- Year
- 2011
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Post conflict and post disaster reconstruction and the right to adequate housing 2011, para. 10
- Paragraph text
- Since the 1990s there has been a growing recognition of the importance of adopting a human rights approach (and the use of human rights enforcement mechanisms) in the resolution of conflicts and peacebuilding. The Secretary-General emphasized that the promotion of human rights is the common thread in the Organization's work in peace and security: "Human rights bodies are involved in early-warning and preventive activities, and human rights considerations are increasingly embodied in our response to crises." He also announced that the United Nations had commenced implementation of a rights-based approach to development, which "describes situations not simply in terms of human needs, or of developmental requirements, but in terms of society's obligation to respond to the inalienable rights of individuals. It empowers people to demand justice as a right, not as charity, and gives communities a moral basis from which to claim international assistance where needed". He then issued guidelines to his Special Representatives on how human rights standards should guide peace negotiations. In 2000 the Report on the Panel on United Nations Peace Operations (the "Brahimi Report") emphasized the importance of incorporating human rights into the work of peace missions. The Panel's key recommendations on a peacebuilding strategy for the United Nations included "a doctrinal shift in the use of civilian police, other rule of law elements and human rights experts in complex peace operations to reflect an increased focus on strengthening rule of law institutions and improving respect for human rights in post-conflict environments". It also recommended that "the ability of the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights to plan and support the human rights components of peace operations needs to be reinforced".
- Body
- 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
- Person(s) affected
- N.A.
- Year
- 2011
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Post conflict and post disaster reconstruction and the right to adequate housing 2011, para. 12
- Paragraph text
- It has taken longer for the human rights implications of post-disaster responses to be clearly recognized. According to the United Nations Inter-Agency Standing Committee (IASC), natural disasters have traditionally "been seen as situations that create challenges and problems mainly of a humanitarian nature". although the Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights in its general comment No. 4 had explicitly included victims of natural disasters and people living in disaster-prone areas among a list of disadvantaged groups that "should be ensured some degree of priority consideration in the housing sphere ". During the past decade there have been important and welcome shifts in this approach. According to IASC: "Increasingly, it has come to be recognized that human rights protection also needs to be provided in these contexts. The tsunamis, hurricanes and earthquakes, which hit parts of Asia and the Americas in 2004/2005, highlighted the need to be attentive to the multiple human rights challenges victims of such disasters may face. All too often the human rights of disaster victims are not sufficiently taken into account. […] Often the human rights violations are not intended or planned. Sometimes they result from insufficient resources and capacities to prepare and respond to the consequences of the disasters. More often, they are the result of inappropriate policies, neglect or oversight. These violations could be avoided if both national and international actors took the relevant human rights guarantees into account from the beginning."
- Body
- 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
- Humanitarian
- Person(s) affected
- N.A.
- Year
- 2011
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Post conflict and post disaster reconstruction and the right to adequate housing 2011, para. 21
- Paragraph text
- How should governments, bilateral and multilateral agencies, non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and other support institutions respond to these complex situations and difficult challenges? The Special Rapporteur has identified three key issues that she regards as crucial entry points to incorporate the right to adequate housing in the reconstruction efforts: security of tenure, participation and coordination, considering the impact they have on other elements of the right to adequate housing which are usually neglected or overlooked, including location, cultural adequacy and availability of services, facilities and infrastructure.
- Body
- 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
- 2011
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Post conflict and post disaster reconstruction and the right to adequate housing 2011, para. 28
- Paragraph text
- An even more serious concern was the fact that the NRS had to be implemented in the ongoing absence of a legal framework on land and property ownership and dispute resolution, in spite of many calls for action and proposals on establishing such a framework in order to bring certainty in a situation of profound tenure insecurity. Despite some commendable efforts to deal with the land tenure puzzle by a number of dedicated Timorese government officials and international advisors, visible progress towards such certainty only started during 2008. A "Decree on the Cadastre" was passed in July 2008, which authorized the restructured National Directorate for Land, Property and Cadastral Services and the Ita Nia Rai programme to undertake land tenure data collection around the country; and a draft Transitional Land Law was approved by the Council of Ministers on 10 March 2010 and as of September 2010 awaits consideration by 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
- Person(s) affected
- N.A.
- Year
- 2011
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Post conflict and post disaster reconstruction and the right to adequate housing 2011, para. 48
- Paragraph text
- The Rwandan imidugudu model was not simply about provision of shelter in an emergency context, the underlying vision was of a drastically re-engineered rural society, Consultation was limited, and participation mainly took the form of required "obligatory labour participation in construction activities". In spite of these obvious problems, and of lessons learnt in previous villagization projects in East Africa, the "emergency" status of post-1994 Rwanda secured the involvement of some international agencies. However by 1999 international pressure and a related lack of donor funds essentially put a stop to the villagization programme.
- Body
- 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
- Person(s) affected
- N.A.
- Year
- 2011
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Post conflict and post disaster reconstruction and the right to adequate housing 2011, para. 52
- Paragraph text
- The process started in 1991 with General Assembly Resolution 46/182 designed to "strengthen the United Nations response to complex emergencies and natural disasters" as well as "aiming at improving the overall effectiveness of humanitarian operations in the field". Crises in subsequent years (above all the Rwanda genocide in 1994 where the international community was explicitly faulted for inability to predict, prevent and respond) accelerated the pace of reform. The United Nations Office for the Co-ordination of Humanitarian Affairs (UNOCHA) was established in 1998, as a department of the United Nations Secretariat with the mandate of co-ordinating humanitarian response, policy development and humanitarian advocacy. It merged all humanitarian functions of the United Nations until then performed by the United Nations Disaster Relief Organization (UNDRO) and the Department of Humanitarian Affairs under a single United Nations Focal Point, the Emergency Relief Co-ordinator (ERC). General Assembly Resolution 46/182 further established important inter-agency mechanisms and operational tools. These include: the Inter-Agency Standing Committee (IASC), gathering all humanitarian partners from United Nations agencies, funds and programmes, the World Bank, the Red Cross and the main international NGOs to function as an inter-agency decision-making body in response to complex emergencies; and, structured in clusters and phases related to specific funds and plans of action: the Flash Appeal (FA), the Consolidated Appeal Process (CAP), the Central Emergency Response Fund (CERF) and the Common Humanitarian Action Plan (CHAP).
- Body
- 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
- Person(s) affected
- N.A.
- Year
- 2011
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Post conflict and post disaster reconstruction and the right to adequate housing 2011, para. 54
- Paragraph text
- Part of the problem is an as yet incomplete understanding of the concept of "Recovery" (in its defined two phases of "Early" and "Long-term") and of its programmatic implications in the course of humanitarian assistance. The earlier conceptualization of the transition from "relief" to "development" was not useful. The problem was that it attempted to establish a rigid sequential logic, which tended to overlook certain essential "non-humanitarian" actions that would need to commence from the very start of humanitarian assistance and carry through into the resumption of normal development processes.
- Body
- 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
- Person(s) affected
- N.A.
- Year
- 2011
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
The impact of housing finance policies on the right to adequate housing of those living in poverty 2012, para. 20
- Paragraph text
- In recent years market-based housing finance has spread throughout the world at an unprecedented rate. In the United States, European countries, Australia and Japan residential mortgage markets represent between 50 and 100 per cent of gross domestic product (GDP). Several countries experienced strong growth in mortgage debt in the last decade before the crisis, including Australia, Ireland, Spain, Sweden and the United States. By 2009, the ratio of mortgage debt to GDP had reached more than 100 per cent in Denmark and the Netherlands. Mortgage markets have also been developing in emerging markets. For example, the Chinese mortgage market, which started only in the early 1990s, has been growing at more than 40 per cent annually since 2000, reaching 11 per cent of GDP in less than 10 years to become the largest mortgage market in Asia. Similarly, the Indian market has been growing at 30 per cent per 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
- Person(s) affected
- N.A.
- Year
- 2012
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
The impact of housing finance policies on the right to adequate housing of those living in poverty 2012, para. 24
- Paragraph text
- Credit was increasingly awarded to households that, in normal circumstances, would not be eligible for loans, generating what is known as "sub-prime" loans. Although these lending policies were intended to enable access to housing finance for low-income households previously excluded from the mortgage markets, they are still in effect extremely discriminatory with respect to the poor. Mortgage lenders classify loan applicants according to the risks that they pose to both lenders and investors. Credit scoring facilitates risk-based pricing by allowing lenders to charge higher interest rates for borrowers with low scores (bad risks) and lower interest rates for borrowers with high scores (good risks). Lenders became more willing to issue credit at a relatively high price to higher-risk borrowers. In the United States, a typical sub-prime borrower would pay $5,222 more during the first four years of a $166,000 mortgage than would a similar borrower with a normal mortgage (see A/HRC/10/7).
- Body
- 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
- N.A.
- Year
- 2012
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
The impact of housing finance policies on the right to adequate housing of those living in poverty 2012, para. 27
- Paragraph text
- The adverse effects of housing credit growth on affordability have also been visible at the macroeconomic scale. Wider access to mortgage loans resulted in higher house prices. In Spain, between 1995 and 2005 housing prices rose 105 per cent, a result of cheap debt and access to global capital for credit (A/HRC/7/16/Add.2, para. 44). A recent IMF analysis confirms the strong positive relationship between house price movements and household credit growth. On average, a 10 per cent increase in household credit is associated with an increase in housing prices of about 6 per cent.
- Body
- 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
- 2012
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
The impact of housing finance policies on the right to adequate housing of those living in poverty 2012, para. 28
- Paragraph text
- Increasing dependence on mortgage credit, private institutions and connection to broader developments in the global capital markets has overexposed national housing systems to the turbulence of global finance, raising levels of debt and concentrating risks among individual households. Countries that adopted a strongly open system of mortgages, based on sub-prime loans, easily granted credit and the financialization of mortgages, have seen a serious crisis since 2008, when the financial crisis in the United States spread internationally. In previous reports (A/HRC/7/16/Add.2, A/HRC/10/7, A/HRC/13/20/Add.4 and A/HRC/16/42/Add.3), the Special Rapporteur analysed at length the impact of mortgage market liberalization and the sub-prime mortgage system on the economic and financial crises in various regions and the subsequent devastating impacts of the crises on the most poor and 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)
- Economic Rights
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Person(s) affected
- N.A.
- Year
- 2012
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
The impact of housing finance policies on the right to adequate housing of those living in poverty 2012, para. 30
- Paragraph text
- The effect of the housing crisis has been less detrimental for emerging economies where, owing to their structure and performance, mortgage markets remain smaller, more conservative and less connected to capital market flows. Emerging mortgage markets that have made heaviest use of global securitization (e.g. the Russian Federation, Kazakhstan and the Republic of Korea) were most affected. In Kazakhstan in 2010, more than 40,000 borrowers were waiting for their apartments to be finished while construction companies went bankrupt (see A/HRC/16/42/Add.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)
- Economic Rights
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Person(s) affected
- N.A.
- Year
- 2012
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
The impact of housing finance policies on the right to adequate housing of those living in poverty 2012, para. 31
- Paragraph text
- In Eastern Europe, an aggravating factor has been the high rate of foreign currency-denomination loans in some of the countries in the region. In 2010, 42 per cent of mortgages in emerging Europe were denominated in a foreign currency. By the time the economic crisis hit, some two thirds of all mortgage loans in Hungary were in Swiss francs. With the onset of the crises, the value of the franc escalated against the Eastern European currencies. Homeowners suddenly found their repayments skyrocketing and in some cases saw the amount of their loans outstrip the value of their 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)
- Economic Rights
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Person(s) affected
- N.A.
- Year
- 2012
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
The impact of housing finance policies on the right to adequate housing of those living in poverty 2012, para. 33
- Paragraph text
- A major component of the shift from supply-side to demand-side housing policies has been the promotion of demand subsidies as a means to enlarge the market for privately produced residential units, mobilizing public resources and directing them to potential buyers with the idea of "reducing Government intervention". The rationale behind demand-subsidy programmes is that low-income households will be able to finance their housing through the free market, with their own savings, assisted by a down-payment subsidy or a subsidized loan provided by the State. The main types of household demand subsidies used are: (a) direct payments, either up front (to lower the amount of the loan, the closing costs, the down payment or the insurance premium, or in the form of a capital grant) or on a monthly basis; (b) subsidies tied to savings programmes; (c) interest-rate or interest-payment subsidies; (d) tax subsidies tied to mortgage payments or real estate taxation.
- Body
- 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
- 2012
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
The impact of housing finance policies on the right to adequate housing of those living in poverty 2012, para. 34
- Paragraph text
- Most countries employ a combination of these demand subsidies. However, capital-grant subsidies have been popular mainly in Latin America and are relatively rare in developed economies. In Europe, the United States, Canada and Australia demand subsidy programmes have largely taken the form of tax exemptions, interest rate subsidies or bonuses through savings accounts. Mortgage interest tax relief existed, for example, in Ireland, the Netherlands, Germany, the United States, the United Kingdom, China, Slovakia, Hungary, the Russian Federation, Croatia and the Czech Republic. France promotes a mixture of subsidies, including subsidized savings schemes for newly built and renovated properties and a means-tested interest-free loan granted to first-time buyers.
- Body
- 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
- 2012
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
The impact of housing finance policies on the right to adequate housing of those living in poverty 2012, para. 35
- Paragraph text
- One of the most common housing subsidies in European countries (Germany and France) has been the contract-savings scheme. Savers who fulfil their contracts are eligible for mortgage loans at an interest rate that is below the market rate. Since the saving capacity of low-income groups is very limited, they are generally prevented from enjoying the advantages of this model. The favourable tax treatment of households that are related to homeownership, in the form of tax relief or tax credit for the mortgage repayment, tax advantages related to capital gains for owner-occupiers and reduced property tax or imputed tax, are also used in developed countries, emerging markets and countries in transition and favour the better-off households that can afford a mortgage loan. Mortgage interest-rate subsidies that reduce the interest paid by the borrower have been implemented in Denmark, the United States, Norway and Greece and in Mexico, Portugal, Croatia and Indonesia.
- Body
- 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
- 2012
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
The impact of housing finance policies on the right to adequate housing of those living in poverty 2012, para. 36
- Paragraph text
- Demand subsidies linked to mortgage finance or savings usually do not target the poor and in effect benefit the better-off (middle- and even upper-middle-income households). Income tax deductions of interest payments or a broad-based interest rate subsidy for mortgage loans tend to be regressive, as they increase with the amount of the loan and benefit those who can afford larger loans more than those with smaller loans. In the Philippines, interest rate subsidies account for 90 per cent of the value of housing subsidies; however, 77 per cent of the country's population cannot afford a formal-sector loan even at subsidized interest rates. Part of these subsidies may also leak out to benefit others in the housing systems and raise the value of existing dwellings and land.
- Body
- 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
- N.A.
- Year
- 2012
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
The impact of housing finance policies on the right to adequate housing of those living in poverty 2012, para. 37
- Paragraph text
- Although the rationale for the implementation of subsidized mortgage markets is supposedly to reduce State intervention in the housing sector, support for savings banks, interest-rate subsidies and tax allowances mobilize a large amount of public money. The Government is committed to long-term subsidy payments, which are hard to control during the contract period. For example, in Spain and Hungary, tax-exemption schemes were recently cancelled owing to serious fiscal problems. The Special Rapporteur believes that a State's sole reliance on mortgage subsidies may be considered incompatible with its obligation to employ the maximum available resources to promote the right to adequate housing without discrimination. This is particularly the case when States devote the majority of their budgets to these policies while at the same time dismantling or failing to promote social housing programmes or other alternatives that specifically target the poor.
- Body
- 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
- N.A.
- Year
- 2012
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
The impact of housing finance policies on the right to adequate housing of those living in poverty 2012, para. 38
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- The capital grant-subsidy approach has been promoted to target low-income households in particular and the Chilean experience has been considered the model that inspired other countries. The model emphasizes: (a) the shift of responsibility for housing provision from the Government to the private sector; (b) provision of one-time grants for home purchase while curtailing all indirect subsidies; and (c) transparent qualifying mechanisms based on household income and a savings contribution. Programmes aim to increase housing affordability by offering a cash subsidy to cover part of the purchase price of a formally constructed dwelling offered for sale in the market by private companies. Subsidies may be combined with mortgage or microfinance loans and/or household savings. Capital grants aim to target the lowest-income households and are perceived to encourage their integration within conventional housing markets, leading to financial market expansion.
- Body
- 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
- 2012
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
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The impact of housing finance policies on the right to adequate housing of those living in poverty 2012, para. 39
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- The Chilean model has been praised as a best practice for its transparency, the scale of its shift of housing provision to private market providers (which were seen as more efficient and effective than Government in addressing the diversity of housing demand) and its targeting of the poor. The model has been widely replicated in Latin America (Brazil, Colombia, Costa Rica, Ecuador, El Salvador, Guatemala, Mexico, Panama, Peru and Venezuela (Bolivarian Republic of)). Outside Latin America, the capital-grant approach has been implemented on a large scale in South Africa since 1994.
- Body
- 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
- 2012
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
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