Right to housing

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The right to housing (occasionally right to shelter

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 which promotes the right to housing in cooperation with the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Right is a reaffirmation of the 1996 Istanbul agreement and Habitat Agenda. It is known as UN-HABITAT, which is tasked with promoting housing rights through monitoring systems and awareness campaigns.[2]

The section 26, chapter Two of the South African constitution establishes that ''everyone has the right to have access to adequate housing'' and it is the task of the Department of Human Settlement to implement this mandate. In United States, most states do not grant the right to shelter except in Massachusetts where just families have right to shelter. The 1999 constitution of Nigeria recognized the right to housing specifically in the section 43 which states: ''every citizen of Nigeria shall have the right to acquire and own immovable property anywhere in Nigeria''.[4]

Definition

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

The right to housing is recognized in a number of international human rights instruments. Article 25 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights recognizes the right to housing as part of the right to an adequate standard of living.[2]

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

Article 11(1) of the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR) also guarantees the right to housing as part of the right to an adequate standard of living.[2]

In

UN Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights.[5] The general comment provides an authoritative interpretation of the right to housing in legal terms under international law.[2]

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

The simplified logo of UN Habitat

The right to adequate housing was a key issue at the 1996 Habitat meeting in

UN–HABITAT, the programme is the most important international forum for the right to housing. It is tasked with promoting housing rights, through awareness campaigns, and to develop benchmarks and monitoring systems.[2]

Implementations

South Africa

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)[8]

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),[9] while it is estimated that around 200,000 are homeless or living on the streets (2015 data).[10]

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.[11]

United States

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.[12] In California, runaway children have the right to be admitted to emergency shelters without parental consent.[13] New York City also recognizes a right to emergency shelter, established in the 1981 consent decree for Callahan v. Carey.[14]

Nigeria

The right to housing is recognized in the 1999

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.[4][15] Additionally, Section 6(6) (c) of the constitution declared the Fundamental Objectives and Directive Principles non-justiciable.[15]

The housing conditions of people in Nigeria falls short of the international human rights law and standards, particularly vulnerable groups such as women,

Nigerian Demographic and Health Survey revealed that 57 million and 130 million Nigerians had no access to safe water and adequate sanitation respectively.[16] 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.[16]

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.[17]

See also

References

  1. JSTOR 43953319
    .
  2. ^
    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. ^ a b c "Fundamental Right To Property And Right To Housing In Nigeria – A Discourse". ResearchGate. Retrieved 2022-03-05.
  5. ISSN 1659-4304
    . Retrieved December 20, 2014.
  6. ^ The Yogyakarta Principles, Principle 15. The Right to Adequate Housing
  7. ^ ACHR decision in case SERAC v. Nigeria – see para. 60 (p. 25) Archived 2012-02-20 at the Wayback Machine
  8. ^ "Legal case in South Africa". Researchgate.
  9. ^ http://www.thehda.co.za/uploads/files/HDA_South_Africa_Report_lr.pdf [bare URL PDF]
  10. ^ "Homelessness in South Africa". wp.wpi.edu. Retrieved 2019-06-19.
  11. ^ "Quality of Life Overview - South Africa". Rights Tracker. Human Rights Measurement Initiative. Retrieved 4 May 2023.
  12. ^ ""Right to Shelter" in Massachusetts". 18 December 2014.
  13. ^ A Handbook on California's "Right to Shelter Law"
  14. ^ "Opinion | A Right to Shelter in New York (Published 2016)". The New York Times. Archived from the original on 2023-04-30.
  15. ^
    doi:10.1556/AJur.55.2014.1.2
     – via Researchgate.
  16. ^ 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.
  17. ^ "Quality of Life Overview - Nigeria". Rights Tracker. Human Rights Measurement Initiative. Retrieved 4 May 2023.

External links

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