1. Right to Adequate Housing
Understanding HUman Rights in Cities - Training Workshop - SESSION 3 Right to Adequate Housing (DRAFT)
May 2015
Right to Adequate Housing
Housing Rights is simplified reference to Right to Adequate Housing as a component of the Right to Adequate Standard of Living.
“Housing Rights” and “the Right to Adequate Housing” are interchangeable.
Enshrined in UDHR (Article 25) – customary law - and in ICESCR (Article 11) – treaty law
Soft law: CESCR General Comments, Pinheiro principles, etc.
20/04/2015
UN Habitat, Housing Unit, HSUB

2. Right to Adequate Housing
DEFINITION: Not 4 walls and a roof but….
The right to live somewhere in security, peace and dignity
Main elements:
Security of tenure
Availability of services, materials, facilities and infrastructure
Affordability that doesn’t threaten or compromises the occupants’ enjoyment of other human rights
Habitability that guarantees physical safety, provides adequate space and protection against the cold, damp, heat, rain, wind, other threats to health and structural hazards
Accessibility for disadvantaged and marginalized groups
Location close to employment opportunities, health-care services, schools, childcare centers and other social facilities and not located in polluted or dangerous areas
Cultural adequacy that enables the expression of cultural identity
(OHCHR/UN Habitat Fact sheet 21)
20/04/2015

3. Right to Adequate Housing
Additional dimensions include:
- non-discrimination (i.e. zoning, exclusionary laws or rules, denial of security of tenure, etc.): States have an obligation to ensure de jure and de facto equality in access to adequate housing and protection against forced evictions
Women and children special protection ( inheritance laws, single mothers)
(OHCHR/UN Habitat Fact Sheet 21)
United Nations Housing Rights Program (UNHRP) was launched jointly by OHCHR and UN-Habitat in 2002 in order to support the efforts by Governments, civil society and national human rights institutions towards the realization of the right to adequate housing” (RTAH Factsheet: 36).
20/04/2015

4. … in a nutshell! The Right to Adequate Housing:
Does not mean: Government to provide housing for everybody
It does mean: Government has to plan for security of tenure
It does mean: forced evictions are prohibited, unless exceptional circumstances and according to IL criteria
It does mean: protection from arbitrary interference with ones’ home and privacy
It does mean: equal and non-discriminatory access to property and adequate housing of all social groups
It does mean: people’s participation in housing-related decision-making at national and community levels
(OHCHR/UN Habitat Fact Sheet 21)
20/04/2015