Right to housing

Economic, social and cultural right

Logo of the Plataforma d'Afectats per la Hipoteca, a Catalan housing rights advocacy group, which means "Stop Evictions" Part of a series on

Housing

Types

* House (detached
* semi-detached
* terraced)
* Apartment
* Bungalow
* Cottage
* Ecohouse
* Executive
* Green home
* Human outpost
* I-house
* Ranch
* Tenement
* Luxury
* Mixed-use development
* Hotel
* Hostel
* Castle
* Flophouse
* Shack
* Slum
* Shanty town
* Villa

Ownership

* Community land trust
* Condominium
* Cooperative
* Informal
* Owner-occupancy
* Public housing
* Squat

Issues

* Environmental
* Design
* Planning
* Racism
* Security
* Healthiness
* Crisis
* Affordability
* By country
* Index
* Subsidized
* Home mortgage interest deduction
* Inequality
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* Redlining
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* Economics
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* Impact fee
* NIMBY
* YIMBY
* Zoning
* Rent
* Control
* Regulation
* Strike
* Tenants union
* Investing
* Appraisal
* Bubble
* Price index
* Subprime lending
* Sustainable
* Architecture
* Development
* Living
* City

Homelessness

* Eviction
* Just cause
* Tenant right to counsel
* Housing First
* Stress
* Rapid Re-Housing
* Right to housing

Other

* 15-minute city
* Alternative lifestyle
* Assisted living
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* Cottage homes
* Eco-cities
* Ecovillage
* Foster care
* Green building
* Group home
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* Healthy community design
* Homeless shelter
* Hospital
* Local community
* Log house
* Natural building
* Nursing home
* Orphanage
* Prison
* Psychiatric hospital
* Residential care
* Residential treatment center
* Retirement community
* Retirement home
* Supportive housing
* Supported living

Housing portal

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Rights

Theoretical distinctions

* Claim rights and liberty rights
* Individual and group rights
* Natural rights and legal rights
* Negative and positive rights

Human rights

* Civil and political
* Economic, social and cultural
* Three generations

Rights by beneficiary

* Accused
* Animals
* Autistic
* Children
* Consumers
* Creditors
* Deaf
* Disabled
* Elders
* Family
* Fetus
* Farmers
* Humans
* Indigenous
* Intersex
* Kings
* LGBTQ
* Transgender
* Life
* Men
* Minorities
* Parents
* Fathers
* Mothers
* Patients
* Peasants
* Plants
* Prisoners
* Robots
* States
* Students
* Victims
* Effective remedy
* Women
* Workers
* Youth

Other groups of rights

* Assembly
* Association
* Asylum
* Civil liberties
* Clothing
* Development
* Digital
* Education
* Environment
* Fair trial
* Food
* Free migration
* Guns
* Health
* Housing
* Linguistic
* Movement
* Property
* Public participation
* Repair
* Resist
* Rest and leisure
* Revolution
* Security
* Sexual and Reproductive
* Abortion
* Reproductive
* Sexuality
* Self defense
* Self-determination
* Speech
* Water and sanitation

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The right to housing (occasionally right to shelter[1]) is the economic, social and cultural right to adequate housing and shelter. It is recognized in some national constitutions and in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights.[2] The right to housing is regarded as a freestanding right in the International human rights law which was clearly in the 1991 General Comment on Adequate Housing by the UN Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights. The aspect of the right to housing under ICESCR include: availability of services, infrastructure, material and facilities; legal security of tenure; habitability; accessibility; affordability; location and cultural adequacy.[3]

The UN Human Settlement Programme is known as UN-HABITAT.[4]

At least 84 states make an explicit reference to housing rights in their constitutions.[5]

## Definition

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Homeless sleeping on Paulista Avenue, São Paulo, Brazil "Housing Is A Human Right"

Article 25 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights recognizes the right to housing.

It states that:

> Everyone has the right to a standard of living adequate for the health and well-being of himself and of his family, including food, clothing, housing and medical care and necessary social services, and the right to security in the event of unemployment, sickness, disability, widowhood, old age or other lack of livelihood in circumstances beyond his control.

Sleeping, homeless children in early 20th-century New York City taken by Jacob Riis

In the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR), article 11(1) also guarantees the right to housing.[6]

In international human rights law the right to housing is regarded as a freestanding right. This was clarified in the 1991 General Comment no 4 on Adequate Housing by the UN Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights.[7]

The Yogyakarta Principles on the application of international human rights law in relation to sexual orientation and gender identity affirm that:[8]

> Everyone has the right to adequate housing, including protection from eviction, without discrimination and that States shall a) take all necessary legislative, administrative and other measures to ensure security of tenure and access to affordable, habitable, accessible, culturally appropriate and safe housing, not including shelters and other emergency accommodation, without discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation, gender identity or material or family status; b) take all necessary legislative, administrative and other measures to prohibit the execution of evictions that are not in conformity with their international human rights obligations, and ensure that adequate and effective legal or other appropriate remedies are available to any person claiming that a right to protection against forced evictions has been violated or is under threat of violation, including the right to resettlement, which includes the right to alternative land of better or equal quality and to adequate housing, without discrimination.

The right to housing is also enshrined in Article 28 of the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, Article 16 of the European Social Charter (Article 31 of the Revised European Social charter) and in the African Charter on Human and Peoples' Rights.[9] According to UN Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, aspects of right to housing under ICESCR include: legal security of tenure; availability of services, materials, facilities and infrastructure; affordability; habitability; accessibility; location and cultural adequacy.[3] As a political goal, right to housing was declared in F. D. Roosevelt's 1944 speech on the Second Bill of Rights.

## UN Habitat

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The simplified logo of UN Habitat

The right to adequate housing was a main theme in the Istanbul Agreement and Habitat Agenda. This includes a rule to "promote, protect and ensure the full and progressive realisation of the right to adequate housing" in Paragraph 61. The UN Human Settlement Programme was created during 2001. The programme is the most important international forum for the right to housing.[10]

## Implementations

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This section needs expansion. You can help by adding to it. (January 2019)

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### South Africa

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One of the seven focus areas by the South African human right is The Right to Adequate House and this is beyond the mere provision of building materials.

The rights such as the right to public participation, equality, human dignity, and access to information are amongst the cross cutting rights linked with right to adequate housing as noted by the Constitutional Court in Government of the Republic of South Africa and Others v Grootboom and Others 2001 (1) SA 46 (CC)[11]

In South Africa, section 26 of Chapter Two of the Constitution establishes that "everyone has the right to have access to adequate housing". The Department of Human Settlements is tasked with implementing this mandate. Based on recent data, around 3.6 million South Africans still live in shacks or informal settlements (2013 data),[12] while it is estimated that around 200,000 are homeless or living on the streets (2015 data).[13]

Based on a survey of human rights experts administered by the Human Rights Measurement Initiative in 2019, South Africa is doing only 69.6% of what should be possible at its level of income on the right to housing.[14]

### United States

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2020 protest against evictions in Minneapolis, Minnesota

Further information: Subsidized housing in the United States

Most jurisdictions in the United States have no right to shelter. One exception is Massachusetts, where families (but not homeless individuals) do have the right to shelter.[15] In California, runaway children have the right to be admitted to emergency shelters without parental consent.[16] New York City also recognizes a right to emergency shelter, established in the 1981 consent decree for Callahan v. Carey.[17]

### Nigeria

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The right to housing is recognized in the 1999 constitution, specifically in section 43 which states that "every citizen of Nigeria shall have the right to acquire and own immovable property anywhere in Nigeria".[18] It further stated in section 44 that 'no movable property or any interest in immovable property shall be taken possession of compulsorily and no right over or interest in any such property shall be acquired compulsorily in any part of Nigeria except in the manner and for purposes prescribed by law that, among other things: requires the prompt payment of compensation and ensures parties access to the court for the determination of his interest in the property and the amount of compensation payable". The provisions of Section 16(2)(d) of the constitution in the Fundamental Objectives and Directive Principles of State Policy, which states that "the state shall direct its policy towards ensuring that suitable and adequate shelter is provided for all citizens" implies the recognition of the need to provide shelter for citizens but such right excludes right to adequate housing.[18][19] Additionally, Section 6(6) (c) of the constitution declared the Fundamental Objectives and Directive Principles non-justiciable.[19]

The housing conditions of people in Nigeria falls short of the international human rights law and standards, particularly vulnerable groups such as women, indigenous people, LGBTQ, internally displaced persons and people living with disability (PLW) in the rural settings of Abuja, Lagos and Port Harcourt.[20] In 2014, WHO and UNICEF stated that 69% of the urban population of Nigeria were living in 'slums' without basic amenities like potable water, sanitation services, electricity, garbage collection, and paved roads. Also, the 2013 Nigerian Demographic and Health Survey revealed that 57 million and 130 million Nigerians had no access to safe water and adequate sanitation respectively.[20] According to the Federal Mortgage Bank of Nigeria, there was a deficit of 22 million housing units in 2019. The Lagos state government stated that the housing deficit in the state is at 2.5 million units, with 70 percent of its total population living in informal housing. There is a 20 percent yearly housing demand increase in Abuja, Ibadan and Kano. Generally, private market housing can only be affordable by a few. There is scarce rental housing which demand tenants to have advance rent of more than one year. Rent control or caps are not given attention in addition to landlord–tenant relations, with regulation laws poorly enforced.[20]

Based on a survey of human rights experts administered by the Human Rights Measurement Initiative in 2019, Nigeria is doing only 35.5% of what should be possible at its level of income on the right to housing.[21]

## See also

[edit]

* Civil Rights Act of 1968 – U.S. legislation which includes the Fair Housing Act
* Dahiya doctrine
* Housing Benefit
* Housing estate
* Housing First
* Housing crisis
* Public housing
* Section 8
* Subsidized housing
* Tenants unions

## References

[edit]

1. ^ Mishra, Prafulla C. (1998). "Right to Shelter: A Human Richt Perspective". Journal of the Indian Law Institute. 40 (1/4): 230–242\. ISSN 0019-5731. JSTOR 43953319.
2. ^ Edgar, Bill; Doherty, Joe; Meert, Henk (2002). Access to housing: homelessness and vulnerability in Europe. The Policy Press. pp. 16–17\. ISBN 978-1-86134-482-3.
3. ^ a b The right to adequate housing (Art.11 (1)). CESCR General comment 4 – see para. 8
4. ^ Edgar 2002, p. 17
5. ^ Pattillo, Mary (2024). "Housing as a Right". Journal of the American Planning Association. 90 (4): 782. doi:10.1080/01944363.2024.2386911. ISSN 0194-4363.
6. ^ Edgar 2002, p. 16
7. ^ Terminski, Bogumil (2011). "The right to adequate housing in international human rights law: Polish transformation experiences" (PDF). Revista Latinoamericana de Derechos Humanos. 22 (2): 219–241\. ISSN 1659-4304. Retrieved December 20, 2014.
8. ^ The Yogyakarta Principles, Principle 15. The Right to Adequate Housing
9. ^ ACHR decision in case SERAC v. Nigeria – see para. 60 (p. 25) Archived 2012-02-20 at the Wayback Machine
10. ^ Edgar 2002, p. 17
11. ^ "Legal case in South Africa". Researchgate.
12. ^ Informal settlements in South Africa (PDF) (Report). Housing Development Agency. August 2013. Archived (PDF) from the original on 20 April 2016.
13. ^ "Homelessness in South Africa". wp.wpi.edu. Retrieved 2019-06-19.
14. ^ "Quality of Life Overview - South Africa". Rights Tracker. Human Rights Measurement Initiative. Retrieved 4 May 2023.
15. ^ "Who is eligible under right to shelter"
16. ^ A Handbook on California's "Right to Shelter Law"
17. ^ "Opinion | A Right to Shelter in New York". The New York Times. 2016-05-24. Archived from the original on 2023-04-30.
18. ^ a b "Fundamental Right To Property And Right To Housing In Nigeria – A Discourse". ResearchGate. Retrieved 2022-03-05.
19. ^ a b Emeka Chegwe (March 2014). "The right to housing in the context of Nigerian law and human rights practice". Acta Juridica Hungarica. 55 (1): 21–37\. doi:10.1556/AJur.55.2014.1.2 – via ResearchGate.
20. ^ a b c "OHCHR | Visit to the Republic of Nigeria by Ms. Leilani Farha, Special Rapporteur on adequate housing as a component of the right to an adequate standard of living, and on the right to non-discrimination in this context". www.ohchr.org. Retrieved 2022-03-05.
21. ^ "Quality of Life Overview - Nigeria". Rights Tracker. Human Rights Measurement Initiative. Retrieved 4 May 2023.

## External links

[edit]

* Special Rapporteur on adequate housing as a component of the right to an adequate standard of living, UN
* Report to UN HRC, 2008. A/HRC/7/16
* Report to UN HRC, 2009. A/HRC/13/20
* International standards of the right to housing
* Housing Rights Legislation: Review of International and National Legal Instruments
* CESCR General comments:
* The right to adequate housing (Art.11 (1)). CESCR General comment 4, 1991
* The right to adequate housing (Art.11.1): forced evictions. CESCR General comment 7, 1997
* Factsheet on right to housing, UN
* CoE Commissioner for Human Rights:
* Recommendation on the implementation of the right to housing, 2009
* Housing Rights: The Duty to Ensure Housing for All, 2008
* "No one should have to be homeless – adequate housing is a right", 2007
* Interpretation and application of Article 31 of RESC//Digest of the Case Law of the European Committee on Social Rights, 2008. pp. 169–173, 349—355
* Right to Housing Geneva: CETIM, 2007.
* Housing is a human right: How Finland is eradicating homelessness. Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC). Published 24 January 2020.

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Substantive human rights

What is considered a human right is in some cases controversial; not all the topics listed are universally accepted as human rights

Civil and political|

* Equality before the law
* Freedom from arbitrary arrest and detention
* Freedom of assembly
* Freedom of association
* Cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment
* Freedom from discrimination
* Freedom of information
* Freedom of movement
* Freedom of religion
* Freedom from slavery
* Freedom of speech
* Freedom of thought
* Freedom from torture
* LGBT rights
* Liberty
* Nationality
* Personhood
* Presumption of innocence
* Access to justice
* Right of asylum
* Right to die
* Right to a fair trial
* Right to counsel
* Right to family life
* Right to keep and bear arms
* Right to life
* Right to petition
* Right to privacy
* Right to protest
* Right to refuse medical treatment
* Right to resist
* Right of return
* Right of self-defense
* Right to truth
* Security of person
* Speedy trial
* Suffrage
* right to be a candidate
* Right to homeland

Economic, social
and cultural

* Digital rights
* Equal pay for equal work
* Fair remuneration
* Labor rights
* Right to an adequate standard of living
* Right to clothing
* Right to development
* Right to education
* Right to food
* Right to health
* Right to a healthy environment
* Right to housing
* Right to Internet access
* Right to property
* Right to public participation
* Right of reply
* Right to rest and leisure
* Right of return
* Right to science and culture
* Right to social security
* Right to water
* Right to work

Sexual and
reproductive|

* Abortion
* Family planning
* Family rights
* Freedom from involuntary female genital mutilation
* Intersex human rights
* LGBT rights
* Sexual and reproductive health
* Right to sexuality

* v
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Homelessness

People|

* Aged people
* Beggar
* Cyber-homeless
* Families
* Gutter punk
* McRefugee
* Mole people
* Street people
* Street children
* Social orphan
* Vagrants
* Bergie
* Tramps
* Hobos
* Youth

Issues|

* Anti-homelessness legislation
* Bill of Rights
* Bumvertising
* Discrimination
* Mental health
* Patient dumping
* Popular culture
* Spirituality
* Vulnerability Index
* Pets
* Survival sex
* Social cleansing
* Slum clearance

Responses|

* Soup kitchen
* Hygiene program
* Homeless ministry
* Homelessness services
* List
* Street newspaper
* List

| Shelters|

* Homeless shelter
* Cooling center
* Drop-in center
* Four penny coffin
* Two-penny hangover
* Penny sit-up
* Warming center
* Women's shelter
* Homeless Friendly Precincts

|

Housing|

* Foyers
* Housing First
* Rapid Re-Housing
* Right to housing
* Single-room occupancy (SRO)
* Squatting
* Tent city
* Transitional housing

Awareness|

* Homelessness Action Week
* Homeless Persons' Week
* Homeless World Cup
* International Year of Shelter for the Homeless
* Street Child World Cup
* Youth Homelessness Matters Day

By country|

| Africa|

* Algeria
* Egypt
* Ghanaian children
* South Africa

|

Americas|

* Canada
* Vancouver
* Latin American children
* United States
* LGBTQ youth
* Veterans
* Women
* California
* San Francisco
* Colorado
* Columbus
* Florida
* Minneapolis
* New Mexico
* Oregon
* Seattle
* Elsewhere

Asia|

* Bangladeshi children
* China
* India
* children
* Indonesia
* Iraq
* Israel
* Japan
* North Korea
* Filipino children
* Thai children

Europe|

| East|

* Eastern European children
* Hungary
* Russia

|

North|

* Denmark
* Finland
* Ireland
* Sweden
* United Kingdom
* England
* Scotland

South|

* Greece
* Portugal
* Spain
* Vatican City

West|

* France
* Germany
* Netherlands
* Switzerland

Oceania|

* Australia
* Papua New Guinea
* New Zealand

Category
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