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Bahia, Brazil
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What are Housing Rights?
According to International Human Rights Law
While the majority of the world's population lives in some form of dwelling, roughly half of the world's population does not currently have access to the housing rights entitlements guaranteed to them under international human rights law. According to international human rights law, in order for housing to be adequate it must provide more than just four walls and a roof over one's head; it must, at a minimum, include the following elements:
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Security of Tenure
Security of tenure is one of the cornerstones of the right to adequate housing. Secure tenure protects people against arbitrary forced eviction, harassment and other threats. Most informal settlements and communities lack legal security of tenure. Hundreds of millions of people (if not more) currently live in homes without adequate secure tenure protection. Security of tenure is a key issue for all dwellers, particularly women.
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Adequate Services, Materials, Infrastructure
Adequate
housing requires access to clean and affordable drinking water, energy for cooking,
heating and lighting, sanitation and washing facilities, food storage, refuse disposal,
site drainage and emergency services. When one or more of these attributes of
adequate housing are not available, the right to adequate housing is not fully in
place.
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Affordability
The housing affordability principle stipulates simply that the amount
a person or family pays for their housing must not be so high that it threatens or
compromises the attainment and satisfaction of other basic needs. Affordability is
an acute problem throughout the world and a major reason why so many people
cannot access affordable formal housing, and are forced as a result to live in
informal settlements. The lack of affordable housing is also a major problem in
affluent countries where individuals and families living in poverty find it
increasingly difficult to find affordable adequate housing. In many developed
countries, when rental housing is unaffordable, tenants' security of tenure is
threatened as they can often be legally evicted for non-payment of rent.
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Habitability
For housing to be considered adequate, it must be habitable.
Inhabitants must be ensured adequate space and protection against the cold, damp,
heat, rain, wind or other threats to health or structural hazards. Hundreds of millions
of the world's dwellers reside in housing that does not meet these habitability
criteria.
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Accessibility
Housing must be accessible to everyone. Disadvantaged groups such
as the elderly, the physically and mentally disabled, HIV-positive individuals,
victims of natural disasters, children and other groups should be ensured some
degree of priority consideration in housing law and policy to ensure their housing
needs are met. In many parts of the world, laws and policies do little to address the
housing needs of the most disadvantaged, instead focusing on already advantaged
social groups. Additionally, in rental and housing markets, discrimination against
disadvantaged groups is common and poses a significant barrier to housing access.
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Location
For housing to be adequate it must to allow reasonable access to
employment options, health care services, schools, childcare centres and other
social facilities. It must not be built on or located in polluted areas. When
communities are evicted from their homes they are often relocated to remote
locations lacking facilities or in polluted areas, near garbage dumps or other sources
of pollution.
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Culturally Adequate
The right to adequate housing includes a right to reside in housing that is considered culturally adequate. This means that housing programmes and policies must take fully into account the cultural attributes of housing which allow for the expression of cultural identity and recognise the
cultural diversity of the world's population.
General Comment No. 4 adopted by the UN Committee on Economic, Social and
Cultural Rights, elaborates these seven criteria of housing adequacy, and provides the
single most authoritative interpretation of the right to adequate housing under
international human rights law. These are the seven core components of adequate
housing according to international human rights law. There are, of course, many other
features to the enjoyment of the right to housing, including protection against all forms
of discrimination, freedom of movement, the right to privacy and respect for the home
and many others. These are explored throughout this section of the website.
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Related Links |
General Comment No.4 ( Link )
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