A/72/128 exclusion or restriction on the basis of disability that has the purpose or effect of impairing or nullifying the enjoyment of human rights, including the right to adequate housing. As such, the provision extends to any failures to address systemic inequality in access to adequate housing, including those relating to inadequate services, insufficient social protection and a lack of affordable housing. 37. The right to non-discrimination also requires Governments and private actors to take positive measures to reasonably accommodate the needs of persons with disabilities insofar as such accommodation is “necessary and appropriate” and does not impose a “disproportionate or undue burden”. Reasonable accommodation is not restricted to physical modifications to existing housing. It also includes an obligation to adapt the application of laws and policies. 31 As a component of the right to non-discrimination, reasonable accommodation is considered an immediate obligation of States. 38. Equality and non-discrimination are crucial for the realization of the right to housing of persons with disabilities under article 28. States must take positive measures to the maximum of available resources to address systemic homelessness and deprivation of housing, which disproportionately affects persons with disabilities, and to strive towards the full realization of the right to adequate housing for all persons with disabilities. In the Convention, it is made abundantly clear that the right to non-discrimination of persons with disabilities is not simply a negative right, requiring Governments and private actors to refrain from actions that exclude persons with disabilities, but also a positive right, requiring them to take measures to ensure the enjoyment of the right to housing. As Andrea Broderick notes, “the intersection of equality and socioeconomic rights in the [Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities] may provide a key to unlocking the structural inequalities which disabled people, and by extension other marginalised groups, have encountered for too long now”. 32 3. Accessibility 39. Article 9 of the Convention, in which the obligation of States to identify and remove barriers and ensure accessibility is outlined, is another unique provision in that instrument that is particularly important to housing. As affirmed by the Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities in its general comment No. 2 (2014) on accessibility, accessibility is an enabling condition to ensure that persons with disabilities live independently and participate fully in all aspects of life. 33 40. Under article 9, States are required to ensure that all housing available to the public, including social and private rental housing, takes into account all aspects of accessibility for persons with disabilities. In the article, a broad range of accessibility issues “encompassing the physical environment, transportation, information and communication, and services” 34 are addressed and obligations are established to: ensure physical accessibility, such as through ramps and accessible doors, as well as the accessibility of windows, bathrooms and kitchens; remove the communication barriers confronted by persons with disabilities applying for and living in housing; and ensure access to work, services and public spaces — in short, to ensure that all aspects of the housing environment are accessible. As the Special Rapporteur has consistently noted in her dialogue with government officials, under __________________ 31 32 33 34 12/23 See, for example, Communication No. 3/2011, H.M. v Sweden, views adopted on 19 April 2012. Andrea Broderick, “Harmonisation and cross-fertilisation of socio-economic rights in the human rights treaty bodies: disability and the reasonableness review case study”, Laws (Special Issue Disability Human Rights Law), vol. 5, No. 4 (2016), p. 14. Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, general comment No. 2, paras. 13 -14. Ibid., para. 13. 17-11724