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Mapping and framing security of tenure 2013, para. 29
- Paragraph text
- Informal settlements are self-made, spontaneous, self-managed and unplanned settlement and housing arrangements, initiated by urban poor themselves. They are generally characterized by precarious infrastructure and housing conditions. The term informal settlement has become common, but many other terms are used, such as "slums", "bidonvilles" and "favelas", among others.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on adequate housing as a component of the right to an adequate standard of living
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Economic Rights
- Poverty
- Social & Cultural Rights
- Year
- 2013
- Date modified
- Sep 21, 2020
Paragraph
Analysis of two alternative housing policies: rental and collective housing 2013, para. 22
- Paragraph text
- The sections below provide a review of alternative housing policies for the urban poor that have been largely ignored by States in recent years - rental arrangements and collective and tenure - while analysing their compatibility with the promotion of the right to adequate housing of those living in poverty.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on adequate housing as a component of the right to an adequate standard of living
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Economic Rights
- Poverty
- Social & Cultural Rights
- Year
- 2013
- Date modified
- Sep 21, 2020
Paragraph
Post conflict and post disaster reconstruction and the right to adequate housing 2011, para. 35
- Paragraph text
- The post-Hurricane Mitch period also saw development in the legal framework related to land and housing issues, though the judicial system remained weak and so the potential benefits of the new legislation remained inaccessible to the poor. Missing from the current strategy in Honduras is a comprehensive programme to increase the supply of urbanized land and improve tenure security for the poor and the marginalized.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on adequate housing as a component of the right to an adequate standard of living
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Poverty
- Social & Cultural Rights
- Year
- 2011
- Date modified
- Sep 21, 2020
Paragraph
The impact of housing finance policies on the right to adequate housing of those living in poverty 2012, para. 65
- Paragraph text
- Housing finance policies based on credit are inherently discriminatory against lower-income households, and at their best increase housing affordability for upper- and middle-income groups. Housing finance policies often "redline" the poor, who are required to pay much higher prices for financial services, exposing them to financial risks inherent to global financial markets and indebtedness.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on adequate housing as a component of the right to an adequate standard of living
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Poverty
- Year
- 2012
- Date modified
- Sep 21, 2020
Paragraph
Financialization of housing and the right to adequate housing 2017, para. 37
- Paragraph text
- Financialized housing markets create and thrive on gentrification and the appropriation of public value for private wealth. Improved services, schools or parks in an impoverished neighbourhood attract investment, which then drives residents out. The transformation of an old railway line in West Chelsea in Manhattan into a public walkway and park has attracted wealthy investors to a mixed income neighbourhood, radically transforming it with luxury housing units costing in the multimillions, and displacing longer term residents. In Vancouver, the opening of new public transport facilities in Burnaby, one of the few remaining areas of affordable rental housing, has quickly led to the development of expensive condominium towers, displacing residents who have not only lived there for decades, but also invested in developing their community.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on adequate housing as a component of the right to an adequate standard of living
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Poverty
- Social & Cultural Rights
- Year
- 2017
- Date modified
- Sep 21, 2020
Paragraph
Guiding Principles on security of tenure for the urban poor 2014, para. 48
- Paragraph text
- Measures to regulate financial markets and institutions. The deregulation of financial markets, along with policies prioritizing homeownership, has had adverse impacts on many urban-poor households. Sub-prime loans, payment defaults and foreclosures have led to tenure insecurity and evictions in several countries. Often, financial institutions, including microcredit institutions, charge higher interest rates to the poor to mitigate the heightened risk of default. In some cases, lenders have aggressively targeted low-income households for loans with exploitative terms, without explaining the terms and conditions, and ignoring their ability to repay. States should prohibit predatory lending practices and adopt regulations to ensure that mortgage payments are commensurate with income levels and do not compromise the satisfaction of other basic needs. Regulations should also mandate the full disclosure and communication of loan terms to applicants in accessible formats and languages.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on adequate housing as a component of the right to an adequate standard of living
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Poverty
- Year
- 2014
- Date modified
- Sep 21, 2020
Paragraph
Guiding Principles on security of tenure for the urban poor 2014, para. 43
- Paragraph text
- Audits of unused land and housing and assessments of housing needs. An audit of unused and underutilized land, housing and buildings, both public and private, should be conducted concurrently with an assessment of the housing needs of the urban poor, including homeless persons, with the objective of matching availability with spatial needs. The assessment of current and anticipated housing needs should take into account patterns of urbanization and trends in migration, population growth and ageing. In South Africa, for example, the City of Cape Town was ordered by the High Court to conduct an audit of unused land plots to accommodate people facing eviction.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on adequate housing as a component of the right to an adequate standard of living
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Movement
- Poverty
- Social & Cultural Rights
- Year
- 2014
- Date modified
- Sep 21, 2020
Paragraph
Guiding Principles on security of tenure for the urban poor 2014, para. 15
- Paragraph text
- In addition to public and non-market rental options, States should promote private rental for the urban poor, including through policies to expand rental-housing stock. Such policies include tax incentives to owners, guarantees or insurance schemes against non-payment of rent, and the provision of grants or low-interest loans to landlords to improve dilapidated housing units on the condition that they rent to low-income tenants. A Government incentive programme in New Jersey, United States of America, for example, provides grants to landlords to provide safe, suitable and affordable housing for low and moderate-income residents. In Slovakia, subsidies are provided for the construction of rental apartments for low-income groups, including for socially excluded Roma communities. Housing allowances for low-income tenants should also be considered.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on adequate housing as a component of the right to an adequate standard of living
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Economic Rights
- Equality & Inclusion
- Poverty
- Social & Cultural Rights
- Year
- 2014
- Date modified
- Sep 21, 2020
Paragraph
Reflection on work undertaken in first 14 years of the mandate; outline of opportunities and priorities 2014, para. 69
- Paragraph text
- In coordination with relevant mandate holders, the Special Rapporteur wishes to take up the problem of laws that criminalize homelessness or activities associated with homelessness, such as sleeping in public places, and to consider the discriminatory attitudes and perceptions that often lie behind such laws. In this regard, the Special Rapporteur will explore in some depth the stigmatization and discrimination often suffered by the homeless or those with other housing status (for example, "squatters", "slum dwellers" and "public/social housing tenants"), and will build upon the previous work of mandate holders, including the report of the Special Rapporteur on extreme poverty and human rights on the penalization of people living in poverty (A/66/265) and the report of the Special Rapporteur on the human right to safe drinking water and sanitation on stigma and the realization of the right to safe drinking water and sanitation (A/HRC/21/42).
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on adequate housing as a component of the right to an adequate standard of living
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Poverty
- Social & Cultural Rights
- Water & Sanitation
- Year
- 2014
- Date modified
- Sep 21, 2020
Paragraph
Analysis of two alternative housing policies: rental and collective housing 2013, para. 17
- Paragraph text
- Until the 1980s, slum dwellers and the urban poor had not been a target for financial services. However, in the 1980s private financial investors came to regard the poor as "bankable", and in the past 10 years, a growing number of housing microfinance programmes emerged offering loans to low-income households. Housing microfinance loans are much smaller than mortgages, are typically granted for shorter terms and are used mainly to finance progressive improvements to housing (for example, building sanitary amenities) and expansions to an existing dwelling.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on adequate housing as a component of the right to an adequate standard of living
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Economic Rights
- Poverty
- Year
- 2013
- Date modified
- Sep 21, 2020
Paragraph
Analysis of two alternative housing policies: rental and collective housing 2013, para. 9
- Paragraph text
- However, during the past two decades new mortgage products were designed specifically for borrowers with low incomes or poor credit history who were not eligible for regular mortgage finance, generating sub-prime loans. Although those lending policies were intended to enable access to credit for low-income households, they are extremely discriminatory: the poorer the credit taker, the higher the interest he/she has to pay. High-interest loans led to ever-increasing household indebtedness, economic insecurity, mortgage arrears and repossession rates. Poor households were forced to reduce expenditure on other essential needs, like food or medicines, in order to meet their housing debt.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on adequate housing as a component of the right to an adequate standard of living
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Poverty
- Year
- 2013
- Date modified
- Sep 21, 2020
Paragraph
Analysis of two alternative housing policies: rental and collective housing 2013, para. 5
- Paragraph text
- In her previous report (A/67/286, paras. 10-13), the Special Rapporteur highlighted how the deregulation, liberalization and globalization of housing finance have had major implications for housing and urban development, eventually leading to the global affordability and housing crisis we are witnessing today. Housing costs are disproportionately affecting the poor and in Europe represent an average of 41 per cent of the income of people at risk of poverty. The affordability crisis is compounded by the erosion, neglect and liberalization of non-market mechanisms for allocating housing resources, such as rental housing (public and private) and different forms of cooperative and collective ownership, among others.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on adequate housing as a component of the right to an adequate standard of living
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Economic Rights
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Poverty
- Year
- 2013
- Date modified
- Sep 21, 2020
Paragraph
Post conflict and post disaster reconstruction and the right to adequate housing 2011, para. 31
- Paragraph text
- Similar lessons can be learnt from post-disaster situations. Disasters occur in a social context framed by complex issues of power, politics and longstanding vulnerability and poverty, including widespread tenure insecurity. Understanding this complexity is fundamental to developing and implementing successful responses. This is illustrated in the case of Hurricane Mitch in Honduras in October 1998. According to official estimates Hurricane Mitch left 21 cities severely damaged, 82,735 houses damaged, 66,188 houses destroyed and 44,150 people homeless. In addition 123 health centres and 531 roads were damaged and eight health centres and 189 bridges were destroyed. As a result, an estimated 1.5 million people were negatively affected.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on adequate housing as a component of the right to an adequate standard of living
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Environment
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Humanitarian
- Poverty
- Year
- 2011
- Date modified
- Sep 21, 2020
Paragraph
Responsibilities of local and other subnational governments in relation to the right to adequate housing 2015, para. 46
- Paragraph text
- Housing is an area of concurrent national and provincial competence in South Africa, but the Constitution requires the national and provincial governments to assign responsibilities to a municipality "if that matter would most effectively be administered locally and the municipality has the capacity to administer it". Within that context, the Constitutional Court established that measures taken to realize the right to adequate housing must be "reasonable" - that they must be comprehensive, coherent, flexible and effective; have due regard for those in poverty and deprivation; utilize available resources; be free of bureaucratic inefficiency or onerous regulations and ultimately be capable of realizing the right to adequate housing. The Court also emphasized the fact that responsibilities must be clearly allocated to the different spheres of government with appropriate financial and human resources, and that local governments have an obligation to ensure that services are provided in a sustainable manner. The Court held that the housing programme had failed to adequately prioritize those in the greatest need.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on adequate housing as a component of the right to an adequate standard of living
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Poverty
- Social & Cultural Rights
- Person(s) affected
- All
- Year
- 2015
- Date modified
- Feb 14, 2020
Paragraph
Financialization of housing and the right to adequate housing 2017, para. 35
- Paragraph text
- The dominant impact of wealth and private investment has also created and perpetuated spatial segregation and inequality in cities. In South Africa, for example, the impact of private investment in the urban core of cities has sustained the discriminatory patterns of the apartheid area, with wealthier, predominantly white households occupying areas close to the centre and poorer black South Africans living on the peripheries of cities. That "spatial mismatch", relegating poor black households to homeownership in peri-urban areas where employment opportunities are scarce, rather than rentals in the urban core, for example, has entrenched their poverty and cemented inequality. Similar patterns of racial displacement from urban centres and segregation in evidence in large cities in the United States have led to more severe impacts of financialization and the mortgage crisis being experienced by African-American households. Financialization also creates gender segregation. In Australia, analysis has shown that average-income single female workers can afford to live in only one suburb of Melbourne and cannot afford to live anywhere in Sydney.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on adequate housing as a component of the right to an adequate standard of living
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Poverty
- Person(s) affected
- Women
- Year
- 2017
- Date modified
- Feb 14, 2020
Paragraph
Homelessness as a global human rights crisis that demands an urgent global response 2016, para. 87
- Paragraph text
- Homelessness disproportionately affects particular groups, including women, young people, children, indigenous peoples, people with disabilities, migrants and refugees, the working poor, and lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people, each in different ways, but with common structural causes. These include: (a) the retreat by all levels of government from social protection and social housing and the privatization of services, infrastructure, housing and public space; (b) the abandonment of the social function of land and housing; (c) the failure to address growing inequalities in income, wealth and access to land and property; (d) the adoption of fiscal and development policies that support deregulation and real estate speculation and prevent the development of affordable housing options; and (e), in the face of urbanization, the marginalization and mistreatment of those who are most precariously housed in informal settlements, living in temporary overcrowded structures, without access to water, sanitation or other basic services and living under the constant threat of eviction.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on adequate housing as a component of the right to an adequate standard of living
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Poverty
- Social & Cultural Rights
- Water & Sanitation
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Ethnic minorities
- LGBTQI+
- Women
- Youth
- Year
- 2016
- Date modified
- Feb 14, 2020
Paragraph
The impact of housing finance policies on the right to adequate housing of those living in poverty 2012, para. 29
- Paragraph text
- The discrepancy between income levels and soaring housing and rental prices coupled with unemployment led to increased payment default, foreclosures and homelessness. These processes were exacerbated by the adoption of legal and institutional adjustments aimed at facilitating foreclosure, which have been promoted in recent years as "imperatives for developing a housing finance system". The paradigm that promoted homeownership as the most secure form of tenure has been proven false, as increasing foreclosure rates have been one of the main results of the recent crises. In Spain, more than 350,000 foreclosures have occurred since 2007 and in 2011, about 212 foreclosures and 159 evictions occurred daily. The crisis has disproportionately affected the poorest and most vulnerable, who were the "last" to join the mortgage markets and the first to suffer the consequences of the crises owing to their low resilience to economic shocks and low repayment abilities. Recent research indicates that the majority (70 per cent) of defaults in Spain are related to the unemployment crisis and that 35 per cent of the foreclosed properties belong to migrants.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on adequate housing as a component of the right to an adequate standard of living
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Poverty
- Person(s) affected
- Persons on the move
- Year
- 2012
- Date modified
- Feb 14, 2020
Paragraph
Homelessness as a global human rights crisis that demands an urgent global response 2016, para. 42
- Paragraph text
- Once homeless, women's experiences are acute. They are exposed to high rates of violence, including rape. In its inquiry into the situation of missing and murdered indigenous women in Canada, the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women recognized the link between Aboriginal women's poverty, homelessness and their disappearances and murder.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on adequate housing as a component of the right to an adequate standard of living
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Poverty
- Person(s) affected
- Ethnic minorities
- Women
- Year
- 2016
- Date modified
- Feb 14, 2020
Paragraph
The right to life and the right to adequate housing: the indivisibility and interdependence between these rights 2016, para. 33
- Paragraph text
- The Committee's recognition in its general comment No. 6 and in periodic reviews that the right to life requires positive measures to address homelessness and poverty stands in marked contrast with the absence of consideration of these obligations in the Committee's consideration of alleged violations under the Optional Protocol.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on adequate housing as a component of the right to an adequate standard of living
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Poverty
- Person(s) affected
- All
- N.A.
- Year
- 2016
- Date modified
- Feb 14, 2020
Paragraph
Homelessness as a global human rights crisis that demands an urgent global response 2016, para. 35
- Paragraph text
- Rural homelessness has been the result of decreasing food security from household production, climate change, corporatization of agriculture, loss of land through subdivision at inheritance, declining civil security in rural areas, extreme poverty, unregulated resource exploitation and natural disasters. Rural homelessness usually leads people to migrate to urban areas in search of work and housing.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on adequate housing as a component of the right to an adequate standard of living
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Environment
- Poverty
- Person(s) affected
- All
- Year
- 2016
- Date modified
- Feb 14, 2020
Paragraph
Financialization of housing and the right to adequate housing 2017, para. 38
- Paragraph text
- Patterns of inequality are often starkest in developing countries. In Africa, if current trends continue, the number of households living in informal settlements will continue to increase while the number of ultra-high-net-worth individuals is predicted to rise by almost 50 per cent in the next decade.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on adequate housing as a component of the right to an adequate standard of living
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Economic Rights
- Equality & Inclusion
- Poverty
- Person(s) affected
- N.A.
- Year
- 2017
- Date modified
- Feb 14, 2020
Paragraph
Guiding Principles on security of tenure for the urban poor 2014, para. 9e
- Paragraph text
- [Urban poor individuals and communities are essential actors in strengthening tenure security. States should be accountable to the urban poor for the implementation of these guiding principles by, inter alia:] Periodic reporting of progress at national and international levels.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on adequate housing as a component of the right to an adequate standard of living
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Economic Rights
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Poverty
- Person(s) affected
- N.A.
- Year
- 2014
- Date modified
- Feb 14, 2020
Paragraph
Guiding Principles on security of tenure for the urban poor 2014, para. 2d
- Paragraph text
- [In order to improve security of tenure, especially for vulnerable and marginalized persons and groups living in urban poor settlements, States, including relevant authorities, should take the following measures:] Review and reform urban plans and regulations in order to integrate settlements;
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on adequate housing as a component of the right to an adequate standard of living
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Poverty
- Social & Cultural Rights
- Person(s) affected
- N.A.
- Year
- 2014
- Date modified
- Feb 14, 2020
Paragraph
Guiding Principles on security of tenure for the urban poor 2014, para. 2i
- Paragraph text
- [In order to improve security of tenure, especially for vulnerable and marginalized persons and groups living in urban poor settlements, States, including relevant authorities, should take the following measures:] Adopt or revise legislation to recognize and protect multiple tenure arrangements.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on adequate housing as a component of the right to an adequate standard of living
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Economic Rights
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Poverty
- Person(s) affected
- All
- Year
- 2014
- Date modified
- Feb 14, 2020
Paragraph
Guiding Principles on security of tenure for the urban poor 2014, para. 41
- Paragraph text
- The inability of the poor to access secure and well-located urban housing is often a direct result of policies that promote the commodification of land and housing to the detriment of their social function. As housing becomes increasingly unaffordable, especially in city centres, people have no choice but to resort to insecure self-help alternatives, including sleeping in public places.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on adequate housing as a component of the right to an adequate standard of living
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Economic Rights
- Equality & Inclusion
- Poverty
- Social & Cultural Rights
- Person(s) affected
- All
- Year
- 2014
- Date modified
- Feb 14, 2020
Paragraph
Guiding Principles on security of tenure for the urban poor 2014, para. 2g
- Paragraph text
- [In order to improve security of tenure, especially for vulnerable and marginalized persons and groups living in urban poor settlements, States, including relevant authorities, should take the following measures:] Establish fair and effective land dispute resolution mechanisms;
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on adequate housing as a component of the right to an adequate standard of living
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Economic Rights
- Poverty
- Person(s) affected
- All
- Year
- 2014
- Date modified
- Feb 14, 2020
Paragraph
Guiding Principles on security of tenure for the urban poor 2014, para. 5i
- Paragraph text
- [Non-discrimination on the basis of tenure status must be guaranteed in the context of, inter alia:] Humanitarian assistance, including access to shelter.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on adequate housing as a component of the right to an adequate standard of living
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Humanitarian
- Poverty
- Person(s) affected
- All
- Year
- 2014
- Date modified
- Feb 14, 2020
Paragraph
Guiding Principles on security of tenure for the urban poor 2014, para. 71
- Paragraph text
- Real-estate investments of a predominantly speculative nature can have the effect of undermining security of tenure of the urban poor by contributing to the unaffordability of land and housing. The result may be regression in the enjoyment of the right to adequate housing and increased homelessness. Business enterprises should refrain from entering into such property investments to avoid these adverse human rights impacts.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on adequate housing as a component of the right to an adequate standard of living
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Economic Rights
- Poverty
- Social & Cultural Rights
- Person(s) affected
- All
- Year
- 2014
- Date modified
- Feb 14, 2020
Paragraph
Guiding Principles on security of tenure for the urban poor 2014, para. 2a
- Paragraph text
- [In order to improve security of tenure, especially for vulnerable and marginalized persons and groups living in urban poor settlements, States, including relevant authorities, should take the following measures:] Conduct citywide assessments of tenure arrangements;
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on adequate housing as a component of the right to an adequate standard of living
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Economic Rights
- Equality & Inclusion
- Poverty
- Person(s) affected
- All
- N.A.
- Year
- 2014
- Date modified
- Feb 14, 2020
Paragraph
Guiding Principles on security of tenure for the urban poor 2014, para. 2b
- Paragraph text
- [In order to improve security of tenure, especially for vulnerable and marginalized persons and groups living in urban poor settlements, States, including relevant authorities, should take the following measures:] Identify insecure settlements and population groups, including the homeless;
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on adequate housing as a component of the right to an adequate standard of living
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Poverty
- Person(s) affected
- All
- Year
- 2014
- Date modified
- Feb 14, 2020
Paragraph