Housing

UN Special Rapporteur on the Right to Adequate Housing U.S. Mission

From October 22nd to November 8th, 2009, the UN Special Rapporteur on the Right to Adequate Housing Raquel Rolnik conducted an official mission to the United States. This was the first official visit by a UN Special Rapporteur on Housing to the U.S. NESRI's Housing program co-facilitated the visit with the National Law Center on Homelessness and Poverty. The Special Rapporteur on Housing is appointed by the UN Human Rights Council to examine and report back on a country's housing situation.

The general objectives of this visit were:

To examine and report on the status of the realization of housing rights in the United States;
To engage in dialogue with the U.S. government regarding its progress in securing these rights;
To visit and dialogue with local communities where indivdiuals and families have been directly impacted by the national housing crisis; and
To identify practical solutions and best practices in the realization of rights relevant to the mandate.

The mission investigated the foreclosure crisis, growing homelessness, and concerns around low-income housing with respect to public housing and Section 8 rental assistance. The Special Rapporteur visited communities in New York, Wilkes Barre, Chicago, New Orleans, Pine Ridge, Los Angeles and Washington, D.C. The site visits were coordinated by members of the of the Campaign to Restore National Housing Rights and allies.

On February 12, 2010, Special Rapporteur Raquel Rolnik released her final report on the U.S. mission. Many of the concerns communities across the country expressed to her were included in the report. The report provided the U.S. government with important recommendations as they relate to public and subsidized housing, foreclosures, indigenous housing and homelessness including:

putting in place a moratorium on the demolition of public housing;
adequately addressing youth homelessness, including programs for youth over the age of 18;
dealing with racial discrimination in housing;
ending the over-reliance on private market strategies and solutions to the housing crisis; and
ensuring that housing policies are crafted with real resident participation and input.

NESRI, along with community allies and partners, is working on a peoples' documentary that captures the organizing and strategy that went into ensuring that the Special Rapporteur heard directly from the people. The trailer was shown during the Special Rapporteur's official release of her final report at UN Headquarters in Geneva, Switzerland.

For more information:

To find out more about the Raquel Rolnik, UN Special Rapporteur on the Right to Adequate Housing, visit her web page. To stay up to date on human right to housing news, join our new human right to housing listserv by sending a message to Human_right_to_housing@lists.mayfirst.org.