General Comments

General Comments

The Right to Adequate Housing 

In 1991, the Committee adopted General Comment No. 4 on the right to adequate housing interprets Art. 11 of the ICESCR, which is devoted to the right of everyone to an adequate standard of living – including adequate housing, and identifies the principal elements of the right to housing:

(a)    Legal security of the tenure: All persons should possess a degree of security of tenure which guarantees legal protection against forced eviction, harassment and other threats. States parties should consequently take immediate measures aimed at conferring legal security of tenure upon those persons and households currently lacking such protection, in genuine consultation with affected persons and groups.

(b)    Availability of services, materials, facilities and infrastructure: All beneficiaries of the right to adequate housing should have sustainable access to natural and common resources, safe drinking water, energy for cooking, heating and lighting, sanitation and washing facilities, means of food storage, refuse disposal, site drainage and emergency services.

(c)    Affordability: Personal or household financial costs associated with housing should be at such a level that the attainment and satisfaction of other basic needs are not threatened or compromised. Steps should be taken by States parties to ensure that the percentage of housing-related costs is, in general, commensurate with income levels. States parties should establish housing subsidies for those unable to obtain affordable housing, as well as forms and levels of housing finance which adequately reflect housing needs.

(d)    Habitability: Adequate housing must be habitable, in terms of providing the inhabitants with adequate space and protecting them from cold, damp, heat, rain, wind or other threats to health, structural hazards, and disease vectors. The physical safety of occupants must be guaranteed as well.

(e)    Accessibility: Adequate housing must be accessible to those entitled to it. Disadvantaged groups must be accorded full and sustainable access to adequate housing resources. Thus, such disadvantaged groups as the elderly, children, the physically disabled, the terminally ill, HIV-positive individuals, persons with persistent medical problems, the mentally ill, victims of natural disasters, people living in disaster-prone areas and other groups should be ensured some degree of priority consideration in the housing sphere. Both housing law and policy should take fully into account the special housing needs of these groups.

(f)     Location: Adequate housing must be in a location which allows access to employment options, health-care services, schools, child-care centers and other social facilities. This is true both in large cities and in rural areas where the temporal and financial costs of getting to and from the place of work can place excessive demands upon the budgets of poor households. Similarly, housing should not be built on polluted sites nor in immediate proximity to pollution sources that threaten the right to health of the inhabitants;

(e)    Cultural adequacy: The way housing is constructed, the building materials used and the policies supporting these must appropriately enable the expression of cultural identity and diversity of housing. Activities geared towards development or modernization in the housing sphere should ensure that the cultural dimensions of housing are not sacrificed, and that, inter alia, modern technological facilities, as appropriate are also ensured.

Forced evictions

UNCESCR General Comment 7 of 1997 defines forced eviction as the permanent or temporary removal against their will of individuals, families, and/or communities from the homes and/or land which they occupy, without provision of, and access to, appropriate forms of legal or other protection. It states that the prohibition on forced evictions does not, however, apply to evictions carried out by force in accordance with the law and in conformity with the provisions of the International Covenants on Human Rights. The Committee acknowledges that women, children, youth, older persons, indigenous people, ethnic and other minorities, and other vulnerable individuals and groups all suffer disproportionately from the practice of forced eviction.

The Comment spells out the types of protection which should be applied in relation to forced evictions. These include:

(a)    an opportunity for genuine consultation with those affected;

(b)    adequate and reasonable notice for all affected persons prior to the scheduled date of eviction;

(c)    information on the proposed evictions, and, where applicable, on the alternative purpose for which the land or housing is to be used, to be made available in reasonable time to all those affected;

(d)    especially where groups of people are involved, government officials or their representatives to be present during an eviction;

(e)    all persons carrying out the eviction to be properly identified;

(f)     evictions not to take place in particularly bad weather or at night unless the affected persons consent otherwise;

(g)    provision of legal remedies;

(h)    provision, where possible, of legal aid to persons who are in need of it to seek redress from the courts.

Other Comments

In General Comment 5, on persons with disabilities, there is a reference to housing rights for people with disabilities.

In General Comment 6, on the economic, social, and cultural rights of older people, there is a reference to the type and quality of housing to be provided.

In General Comment 14, on the right to the highest attainable standard of health, the link between health and housing is clearly set out.