Adequate Housing as a Component of the Right to an Adequate Standard of Living, and the Right to Non-Discrimination in This Context

A/HRC/RES/49/17View PDF

Who created this mandate?

A Resolution of the Human Rights Council, under agenda item 3Promotion and protection of all human rights, civil, political, economic, social and cultural rights, including the right to development, published in 2022.

What other versions does this mandate have?

8 versions · 2016–2026

This is an older version — the most recent is A/HRC/RES/61/16

2026A/HRC/RES/61/16Adequate housing as a component of the right to an adequate standard of living, and the right to non-discrimination in this contextLatestCompare with previous version
2024A/HRC/RES/55/11Adequate housing as a component of the right to an adequate standard of living, and the right to non-discrimination in this contextCompare with previous version
2023A/HRC/RES/52/10Adequate housing as a component of the right to an adequate standard of living and the right to non-discrimination in this contextCompare with previous version
2022A/HRC/RES/49/17Adequate housing as a component of the right to an adequate standard of living, and the right to non-discrimination in this contextCompare with previous version
2020A/HRC/RES/43/14Adequate housing as a component of the right to an adequate standard of living, and the right to non-discrimination in this contextCompare with previous version

Versions are identified automatically by matching titles within the same organ (~97% accuracy on a manual audit).

What subjects does this mandate have?

6 topics

Anti-Discrimination Measures Equality Legal Remedies Right to Housing Standard of Living Sustainable Development

What does this mandate say?

28 operative paragraphs

Calls upon States:

To give due consideration to integrating the human right to adequate housing into the implementation of the New Urban Agenda and the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, with a particular view to the right to non-discrimination in this context;

To take urgent measures to address inadequate housing, to promote the integration of all to counter social exclusion and marginalization, and to improve the living circumstances of persons residing in informal settlements, unplanned urban and peri-urban areas, and rural areas, in compliance with international human rights law;

To take the measures necessary to curb factors that result in a lack of affordable housing, such as housing speculation and the “financialization of housing”;

To take the right to adequate housing into account in strategies for adaptation to and mitigation of climate change;

To work with affected communities and individuals to develop and promote environmentally sustainable and sound housing design, construction and maintenance to address the effects of climate change while ensuring the right to adequate housing;

To enhance international cooperation and assistance, in particular capacity-building, for mitigation and adaptation measures to assist especially those countries that are particularly vulnerable to the adverse effects of climate change, to promote and protect human rights, in particular the right to adequate housing as a component of the right to an adequate standard of living;

To consider adopting national programmes and legislation compliant with human rights law and due process and with respect for human dignity and proportionality, to prevent, avoid and reduce evictions, and to promote affordable housing for all;

To ensure that evictions are consistent with the principles of legality, proportionality and necessity and comply with international human rights law and international humanitarian law, with full respect for due process and human dignity, and avoid disproportionate and unnecessary use of force;

To consider adopting or extending special measures to prevent and avoid evictions provoked by the economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, paying special attention to persons in vulnerable situations;

To implement the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, including target 11.1, and in this context urges States to adopt, in consultation with relevant stakeholders, including civil society, national human rights institutions and the private sector, inclusive and cross-sectoral strategies that respect, protect and fulfil the human rights of all, and to ensure that these strategies outline clear responsibilities at all levels of government, contain measurable goals, targets and timelines, and include appropriate mechanisms for regular monitoring and review, with particular emphasis on the needs of persons who are marginalized and most vulnerable;

To ensure women’s equal right to adequate housing as a component of the right to an adequate standard of living in all aspects of housing strategies, including through equal access to credit, mortgages, home ownership and rental housing, to take the safety of such housing properly into account, especially when women and children face any form of violence or threat of violence, and to undertake legislative and other reforms to realize equal rights for all with respect to property and inheritance;

To guarantee the full, effective and meaningful participation of women in all aspects of housing-related policymaking, including housing design and construction, community development and planning, and transportation and infrastructure, including women living in informal housing or in camps;

To undertake additional efforts to prevent and eliminate all forms of violence, both online and offline, including sexual and gender-based violence and domestic violence, especially against women and girls, in compliance with international human rights law, including through the use of restraining orders, the provision of alternative housing, crisis centres, shelters, hotlines and medical, psychological and counselling services;

To take all measures necessary to eliminate legislation that criminalizes homelessness, and to take positive measures with a view to prevent and eliminate homelessness by adopting and implementing laws, administrative orders, cross-sectional strategies and programmes at all levels that are, among others, gender-, age- and disability-responsive and based on international human rights law;

To ensure that construction companies work in accordance with building regulations and in compliance with safety and accessibility standards;

To take appropriate measures to ensure that business enterprises, including financial entities, in the housing sector meet their responsibility to respect human rights in accordance with the Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights;

Also calls upon States to ensure equality and non-discrimination when fulfilling the right to adequate housing, and to strive towards the full realization of the right to adequate housing for all, including by considering:

Prohibiting all forms of discrimination, in particular racial discrimination as well as racism, in the context of the right to adequate housing as a component of the right to an adequate standard of living by public and private entities, including public and private housing and credit providers and home value appraisers, and through technology platforms for credit scoring, tenant screening and mortgage loan applicants, and ensuring that housing and anti-discrimination legislation provides sufficiently dissuasive fines or other dissuasive sanctions for housing discrimination and leads to diverse, inclusive communities;

Regularly monitoring and identifying any forms of systemic discrimination, in particular racial discrimination in relation to housing, including spatial segregation, and adopting special, positive measures and policies at the local, national and regional levels to eliminate such discrimination, in conformity with international human rights law;

Establishing accessible and sufficiently resourced non-judicial mechanisms, such as equality bodies, ombudspersons and national human rights institutions, that have the competence to investigate individual and collective complaints of housing discrimination, including systemic forms of housing discrimination and spatial segregation, and that monitor discrimination in relation to housing through age-, disability- and sex-disaggregated statistical analysis, surveys and other means, make recommendations for eliminating housing discrimination and provide legal advice and effective remedies to victims of housing discrimination;

Further calls upon States to provide, in an accessible, affordable, timely and effective manner, an effective remedy and equal access to justice and administrative procedures in complementing judicial recourses for all for violations and abuses in the context of the realization of the right to adequate housing, including housing discrimination and spatial segregation, by considering:

Adopting domestic legislation and administrative orders giving full effect to the right to adequate housing, and redress for violations of that right;

Making provisions for legal support and legal aid;

Promoting the establishment of national human rights institutions, equality bodies, ombudspersons and civil society organizations supporting the interests of affected persons in accordance with their respective procedural law;

Ratifying or acceding to the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women, the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination and the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, if not yet ratified or acceded to;

Welcomes the work of the Special Rapporteur on adequate housing as a component of the right to an adequate standard of living, and on the right to non-discrimination in this context and takes note of his reports, including his most recent reports on discrimination, spatial segregation and the right to adequate housing;

Decides to continue its consideration of this matter under the same agenda item.

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Who created this mandate?

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What does this mandate say?

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