This section of the advocacy manual will cover international treaties signed or ratified by the U.S and other international standards that you should consider integrating into your housing advocacy.  This section will also discuss how states and towns are creating their own legislation that incorporates human rights language, spearheading the human rights movement here in the United States.  Additionally, under this section you will discover countries such as France, Scotland and South Africa that uniquely ensure a right to housing through legislation or constitutional provisions. In addition to this section of the wiki, please look at the intersection of human rights with the criminalization of homelessness and domestic violence . We encourage you to contact us with any questions on how to use this material, visit our current campaigns and join us in making the human right to housing a priority!

The Human Right to Housing

The origins of the human right to housing can be traced to Roosevelt's famous "Four Freedoms" speech.  The right was first codified in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which the U.S. adopted in 1947. The Declaration 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."  It is important to note that the declaration is not a treaty and is therefore not binding on the United States.  However, many argue that the declaration has evolved into customary law.  The U.S. Constitution does not grant positive social and economic rights such as a right to housing, however there is a growing understanding that political and civil rights cannot be ensured if individuals are not also guaranteed certain social, economic and cultural rights. For example, political participation by a citizen would be hindered by lack of shelter. A right to housing can help protect individuals' civil and political rights. |
The most detailed human rights language about the right to housing is found in the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (CESCR), which was signed by Jimmy Carter in 1977, but has yet to be ratified. The ICESCR includes the right to housing under Article 11 (1) and clearly discusses that the right to housing is not any shelter, but adequate housing. It states:
"The State Parties to the present Covenant recognize the right of everyone to an adequate standard of living for himself and his family, including adequate food, clothing and housing, and to the continuous improvement of living conditions." 

Adequate housing is further defined in CESCR's General Comment No. 4.  It stipulates seven elements involved in the right to housing which include: 
"(a)Legal security of tenure. Tenure takes a variety of forms, including rental (public and private) accommodation, cooperative housing, lease, owner-occupation, emergency housing and informal settlements, including occupation of land or property. Notwithstanding the type of tenure, all persons should possess a degree of security of tenure which guarantees legal protection against forced eviction, harassment and other threats. States parties should consequently take immediate measures aimed at conferring legal security of tenure upon those persons and households currently lacking such protection, in genuine consultation with affected persons and groups;

(b)Availability of services, materials, facilities and infrastructure. An adequate house must contain certain facilities essential for health, security, comfort and nutrition. All beneficiaries of the right to adequate housing should have sustainable access to natural and common resources, safe drinking water, energy for cooking, heating and lighting, sanitation and washing facilities, means of food storage, refuse disposal, site drainage and emergency services;

(c)Affordability. Personal or household financial costs associated with housing should be at such a level that the attainment and satisfaction of other basic needs are not threatened or compromised. Steps should be taken by States parties to ensure that the percentage of housing-related costs is, in general, commensurate with income levels. States parties should establish housing subsidies for those unable to obtain affordable housing, as well as forms and levels of housing finance which adequately reflect housing needs. In accordance with the principle of affordability, tenants should be protected by appropriate means against unreasonable rent levels or rent increases. In societies where natural materials constitute the chief sources of building materials for housing, steps should be taken by States parties to ensure the availability of such materials;

(d)Habitability. Adequate housing must be habitable, in terms of providing the inhabitants with adequate space and protecting them from cold, damp, heat, rain, wind or other threats to health, structural hazards, and disease vectors. The physical safety of occupants must be guaranteed as well. The Committee encourages States parties to comprehensively apply the Health Principles of Housing 5/prepared by WHO which view housing as the environmental factor most frequently associated with conditions for disease in epidemiological analyses; i.e. inadequate and deficient housing and living conditions are invariably associated with higher mortality and morbidity rates;

(e)Accessibility. Adequate housing must be accessible to those entitled to it. Disadvantaged groups must be accorded full and sustainable access to adequate housing resources. Thus, such disadvantaged groups as the elderly, children, the physically disabled, the terminally ill, HIV-positive individuals, persons with persistent medical problems, the mentally ill, victims of natural disasters, people living in disaster-prone areas and other groups should be ensured some degree of priority consideration in the housing sphere. Both housing law and policy should take fully into account the special housing needs of these groups. Within many States parties increasing access to land by landless or impoverished segments of the society should constitute a central policy goal. Discernible governmental obligations need to be developed aiming to substantiate the right of all to a secure place to live in peace and dignity, including access to land as an entitlement;

(f)Location. Adequate housing must be in a location which allows access to employment options, health-care services, schools, child-care centres and other social facilities. This is true both in large cities and in rural areas where the temporal and financial costs of getting to and from the place of work can place excessive demands upon the budgets of poor households. Similarly, housing should not be built on polluted sites nor in immediate proximity to pollution sources that threaten the right to health of the inhabitants;

(g)Cultural adequacy. The way housing is constructed, the building materials used and the policies supporting these must appropriately enable the expression of cultural identity and diversity of housing. Activities geared towards development or modernization in the housing sphere should ensure that the cultural dimensions of housing are not sacrificed, and that, inter alia, modern technological facilities, as appropriate are also ensured."