September 11, 2013
Be in no doubt – the statement from the UN expert on the right to adequate housing is deeply significant, says Grainia Long
By Grainia Long(*)
By their nature, special rapporteurs will choose their words carefully, as she knows her assessment could be taken into account by the court in Strasbourg, or indeed by courts across the UK in considering cases regarding the right to housing.
The right to an adequate standard of living is intended to be ‘progressive’, in other words the standard of housing provision is meant to steadily improve. There should be no backwards steps. The UK has committed to this. However, any process which takes people’s homes away or reduces access to housing cannot, in my view, be seen as progress.
CIH agrees with Ms Rolnik’s damning assessment of the crisis in the UKs housing system. The bedroom tax doesn’t work, it isn’t fair and the government needs to think again. This policy penalises some of the poorest and most vulnerable people who have no option but to cut spending on essentials Iike food and fuel to keep a roof over their heads.
The protections afforded to households under international human rights law are intended to ensure that an adequate standard of living is a right to be enjoyed by everyone. We are deeply concerned that Ms Rolnik has concluded that this right is at risk of not being realised.
Her visit coincided with the release last week of national statistics for England showing that the number of people accepted as homeless and in priority need continues to rise, while the number of households in temporary accommodation has increased by 9% in a single year. A separate set of figures put the proportion of workless households in Glasgow and Liverpool at a shocking 30.2% and 28.7%.
Life is getting harder for those on low incomes. Access to decent and affordable housing could be the single factor that enables those households to find and keep work, and ensure an element of stability so that children can learn and have a safe space to play.
So, what will Ms Rolnik have seen as she travels across the UK to review our existing system? CIH has highlighted that the realisation of the right to housing is under significant pressure as a result of the systemic and persistent undersupply of new homes across all tenures. There remains a big backlog of people not being adequately housed and this increases yearly with household formation rates outstripping the number of new homes.
She will have seen evidence of the impact of massive reductions in government spending for social and affordable housing, and how changes to the financial model for affordable housing has increased rent levels on new homes, with a consequent impact on levels of affordability, and a fundamental shift in who gets access to new forms of affordable housing.
She may have had the opportunity to see first hand the standards in some parts of the private rented sector where large numbers of new migrants to the UK are living in very poor conditions. She will no doubt have heard of the lack of certainty and security for all families living on six month assured short hold tenancies.
Organisations will rightly have outlined the expected impacts of the significant reforms to the welfare system, including the bedroom tax, which is already causing hardship for many of the people affected.
Ms Rolnik has listened to the concerns of many organisations – like CIH – who worry about soaring levels of household debt, and the potential for increases in repossessions as borrowing rates increase in the coming years. As housing costs have increased across tenures, she will have heard about the impact on disposable income and the ability to afford other essentials, such as food, heat and education and the consequent impacts on quality of life.
Was Ms Rolnik shocked that a country described by the OECD as an ‘advanced economy’ has singularly failed to realise a basic human right to adequate housing for so many? Perhaps. For housing professionals, many of whom see the impacts of this failure on a daily basis, it is critical that international organisations like the UN hold government to account for its performance.
Too often, debates on housing focus on the technical aspects of getting homes in the ground, and that is understandable. However, for those struggling to access decent and affordable homes, public policy on housing needs to focus on housing as a basic human right. Realising those rights is fundamental to the enjoyment of other rights, and most importantly, is central to ensuring an adequate standard of living for all. Human rights frameworks can be an important and effective way of ensuring decent housing for all. We must never forget that.
Few people are better placed than Ms Rolnik to draw conclusions on the impact of the housing crisis in the UK. Governments across the UK, who should be mindful of their obligations under human rights treaties, would do well to heed her advice.
(*)Grainia Long is chief executive of the Chartered Institute of Housing and a Commissioner at the Northern Ireland Human Rights Commission.
Source: Inside Housing
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