In the media

The right to adequate housing: the UK and the spare room subsidy

Published in Friday October 25th, 2013 In News

By Saving Humans. Last month there was great controversy when the UN Special Rapporteur on the Right to Adequate Housing commented on the spare-room subsidy. Raquel Rolnik caused a furore by daring to criticise the UK for human rights violations rather than focusing her efforts on graver situations elsewhere in the world.

Typhoon Fitow hits China’s south eastern coast causing deaths and damage

Published in Monday October 7th, 2013 In In the media

Authorities evacuated some 786,000 people from Zhejiang province and at least 177,000 from Fujian to safety. Tens of thousands of boats were also called back to harbor across the region.

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UN experts raise human rights concerns over POSCO’s plans for $12 billion steel plant in India

Published in Wednesday October 2nd, 2013 In In the media

A U.N. panel of experts urged South Korean steel giant POSCO on Tuesday to suspend plans for a $12 billion steel plant over concerns the project threatened the rights and livelihoods of tens of thousands in eastern India. The call follows a June report by rights groups saying that illegal land seizures threatened to displace 22,000 people and deprive thousands more of their means of existence in the state of Orissa.

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Hungary Cracks Down on Homelessness

Published in Wednesday October 2nd, 2013 In In the media

According to the regulations, large discarded items in public places are the property of those officially in charge of their removal. Those who are unauthorized to do so face fines and jail time – a rule that targets the many homeless trash collectors in the country.

The woman from Brazil

Published in Friday September 20th, 2013 In In the media

Inside Housing: ‘The UK has one of the best, best affordable and social housing schemes in the world,’ says the UN special rapporteur on adequate housing. ‘In most of the countries in the world, if you are poor that you means you are very badly housed. Period. This is not true in the UK. This is an astonishing fact, and that’s why the UK should not go backwards. This is very, very important.’

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Half the families hit by bedroom tax ‘now in debt’

Published in Thursday September 19th, 2013 In In the media

The Guardian: More than half of families hit by the bedroom tax have been pushed into debt during the first three months of the policy, leading to calls from the country’s biggest housing groups for a retreat from the scheme.

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Bedroom Tax Pushes A Quarter Of Affected Households Into Rent Arrears

Published in Thursday September 19th, 2013 In In the media

Huffington Post: A quarter of households hit by the ‘bedroom tax’ have been pushed into rent arrears for the first time, just five-and-a-half months after it was introduced. National Housing Federation chief executive David Orr said the figures underlined demands for the housing benefit cut to be scrapped to prevent families entering a “spiralling cycle of debt”.

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Grant Shapps should reconsider his ill-informed UN ‘bedroom tax’ outrage

Published in Monday September 16th, 2013 In In the media

The Guardian: A UN special rapporteur cannot carry out a mission (ie a formal visit) to a state without being invited. This is set out in the code of conduct for such appointment-holders (also known as “special procedures”). Indeed, so open was the UK to the possibility of a visit from UN experts like Rolnik that, in March 2001, it issued a standing invitation to all such UN appointment-holders. By extending a standing invitation, the UK announced that it will always accept requests to visit from all special procedures.

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UN Special Rapporteur on adequate housing concludes UK visit

Published in Friday September 13th, 2013 In In the media

UNA-UK: The UN’s Special Rapporteur on adequate housing, Raquel Rolnik, has concluded a two-week official visit to the UK during which she visited London, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Belfast and Manchester.

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UN expert says dismantling of Housing Executive could lead to political abuse

Published in Friday September 13th, 2013 In In the media

The Detail: An United Nations official has warned that a decision to strip the Housing Executive of responsibility for social housing could lead to political abuse of the system. UN Special Rapporteur Raquel Rolnik visited Northern Ireland as part of a fact-finding mission on the right to adequate housing in the UK.

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