What is the Human Right to Housing?

The human right to housing means that all humans are born with the right to adequate housing. The 7 elements of the human right to housing say that such housing must:

1. Keep you safe and healthy,  
2. Legally be yours, 
3. Be affordable,  
4. Be connected to utilities and services,  
5. Be conveniently located,  
6. Be fully accessible to those most likely to be excluded, and  
7. Must be culturally appropriate. 

The foundation underlying these 7 elements are: 

1. Human dignity 
2. Participation 
3. Reparative Equity 
4. Accountability 
5. The interdependence of all human rights 

Yes, it’s possible!

The human right to housing is possible to achieve!

The human right to housing has been part of international law for over 50 years. And while the concept of a human right to housing may be relatively new to most of us in the U.S., it has a long and rich history in other countries and in international legal systems.

In fact, around the world, there are countries, cities, and state or provincial-level governments working to implement the human right to housing. They have taken different approaches in working toward a right to housing; the videos and other materials below will highlight a few of those approaches.

While none of these examples are perfect… We can learn from their successes and failures and find inspiration that it is indeed possible to achieve a human right to housing. While we highlight their efforts here, please contact our local partners who have experienced the shortcomings to hear more lessons learned from these case studies.

Additional resources and links

(resources from the law center and elsewhere, links to other pages on HR2H)