Overview
- UN-Habitat supports the efforts of national and local governments, civil society groups, and national human rights institutions (NHRI) in realising the Human Right to Adequate Housing.
- More than 1.8 billion people worldwide lack adequate housing. Every year 2 million people are forcibly evicted, many more are threatened with evictions and some 150 million people worldwide are homeless.
- Adequate housing is a human right enshrined in international human rights law. Failing to recognise, protect, and fulfil the Right to Adequate Housing results in the violation of a plethora of fundamental rights including the Right to Work, Education, Health, and Security.
News and Stories
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UN-Habitat strengthens support to cities facing influx of internally displaced people
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Ending youth homelessness: policies, measures and success factors
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For the first time, Yazidi families have documents to prove their rights over land and houses in Sinjar, Northern Iraq
"Losing Your Home" is an important and long overdue book, which I warmly welcome and recommend to the worldwide readership that it addresses and fully deserves. This book offers us a fresh and compelling look at one of the global and still unheralded enough crisis of our times: the increasing eviction and displacement of large numbers of people – no less than tens of millions every year – who are uprooted from their houses mostly without receiving the support they need for rebuilding their lives from society as a whole. House displacement, which much too often results in homelessness or slum dwelling, is a paradoxical result of many legitimate development projects that need a footprint but nonetheless do not care enough to resettle and re-house the people they displace; it is also a result of the bigger tragedies inflicted by destructive conflicts.
Michael M. Cernea,Brookings Institution NR Senior Fellow, Washington DC and Research Professor of Anthropology and International Affairs, GWU
The Housing Rights Index. A policy Formulation Support Tool
The Housing Rights Index is developed to support training and capacity building activities and is intended for the use of policy makers and urban practitioners to be able to analyse the realisation of the right to adequate housing adequacy in their city. This guide is accompanied by an excel…
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Housing at the Centre of the New Urban Agenda
The shift towards a predominantly urban world makes the process of urbanization one of the most significant global trends of the 21st century. The significant transformation that has occurred in recent decades has given greater understanding and recognition to the role of urbanization in…
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Assessing the Impact of Eviction: Handbook
Every year, millions of people around the world
are either threatened by evictions or are actually
unlawfully evicted.
Evictions and the rights-based approach to urban development, September 2011
The increase in the intensity and scale of forced evictions across the world is a trend that has to be reversed and a human rights based approach (HRBA) is key.
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Shelter projects 2010
The project summaries included aim to illustrate some of the project options available to organisations working in both post-disaster and post-conflict situations, as well as to support learning from the strengths and weaknesses of different projects. The focus of this book is on projects that…
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The Right to Adequate Housing: Fact Sheet No. 21/Rev.1;
International human rights law recognizes everyone’s right to adequate housing. This Fact Sheet explains what the right to adequate housing is, illustrates what it means for specific individuals and groups, and elaborates upon States’ related obligations.
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Related Sustainable Development Goals
Leaving no one and no place behind
Hover over or click the icons to learn about UN-Habitat's work on social inclusion here.
UN-Habitat’s focus on housing rights contributes directly to the progressive realisation of the Right to Adequate Housing enshrined in international human rights law including Article 25(1) of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) and Article 11 of the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR). UN-Habitat promotes the shift from a commodity-based to a human rights-based approach to housing in its activities and projects by placing people at the centre of urban and territorial development.
Through these lens, UN-Habitat has been focusing on people in the most vulnerable situations by promoting participatory processes that unlock approaches based on local needs and assets, and make them an active part of the solution.
UN-Habitat’s efforts on the Right to Adequate Housing support the realisation SDG 5 on gender equality. In particular, UN-Habitat strongly supports and provides solutions for tenure security and access to housing rights for women, who face discrimination in accessing property rights.
Forced evictions are particularly traumatising for children, as housing plays a crucial role in a child’s development. During evictions, children often lose access to schools and health care. Forced evictions also increase the risk of family separation, exposing children to further trauma and abuses. Children are afforded special consideration before, during and after evictions and resettlements within UN-Habitat’s Housing Rights activities portfolio.
Sustainable urban development can only be achieved if persons with disabilities are included in decision-making and are able to enjoy their rights. To this end, UN-Habitat partners with representative groups and individual rights holders, as well as national and local governments, relevant UN bodies and civil society to maximise impact and to ensure that the Right to Adequate Housing of persons with disabilities are promoted, respected and protected.
Donors and partners
UN-Habitat and OHCHR jointly launched the United Nations Housing Rights Program (UNHRP) in 2002. The overall goal of this initiative, launched and championed by the Executive Director of UN-Habitat and the High Commissioner on Human Rights, is to support governments, the civil society and National Human Rights Institutions (NHRIs) in their work on the advancement of the right to adequate housing. Under this programme, UN-Habitat supports the UN human rights mechanisms such as the Universal Periodic Review (UPR). Other joint activities include normative tools development and technical assistance for the States and other stakeholders in building and improving technical capacities for implementation and monitoring of housing rights. On the same topic UN-Habitat also works collaborate with UN Special Rapporteur on the Right to Adequate Housing, particularly on the work of forced evictions prevention and housing rights advocacy.