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/61/16No PDF available

Who created this mandate?

A Resolution of the General Assembly, under agenda item 3Promotion and protection of all human rights, civil, political, economic, social and cultural rights, including the right to development, published in 2026.

What other versions does this mandate have?

8 versions · 2016–2026

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?

7 topics

Anti-Discrimination Measures Equality Legal Remedies Right to Housing Socially Disadvantaged Persons Special Rapporteurs Standard of Living

What does this mandate say?

40 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 implement the 2030 Agenda, 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 are inclusive and respect, protect and fulfil the human rights of all, with particular attention to persons in marginalized or at-risk situations, 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 rights and needs of persons who are in vulnerable situations;

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 prevent homelessness and to promote affordable housing for all;

To take the right to adequate housing into account in strategies for adaptation to and mitigation of climate change, and to develop and promote environmentally sustainable and sound housing design, construction and maintenance, energy efficiency, and climate resilience, ensuring accessibility and affordability for all, to address the effects of climate change while ensuring the right to adequate housing;

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

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 avoid and prevent the destruction of housing and civilian infrastructure in conflicts and situations of occupation in a manner that is in compliance with international human rights law and international humanitarian law;

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, equal and meaningful participation of women, including women with disabilities, 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, including women and girls with disabilities, 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 ensure that the principles of equality and non-discrimination are respected when fulfilling the right to adequate housing, and in this respect to take measures to the maximum of available resources to address systemic homelessness and the deprivation of housing, which disproportionately affect persons in vulnerable situations;

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 compliant with international human rights law;

To take comprehensive, inclusive and evidence-based measures to reduce spatial segregation and isolation or social exclusion of persons with disabilities from the community by ensuring the right of persons with disabilities to live independently within the community with persons of their choice, to ensure that persons with disabilities have access to adequate housing and to community support services, and to actively involve persons with disabilities and their representative organizations in all areas of housing policy and design;

To adopt accessibility requirements that apply to new housing and implement a clear time frame for ensuring accessibility within existing housing stock;

To ensure that local governments implement and adhere to the right to adequate housing in all municipal action, in consultation with rights holders, civil society and representatives of affected communities, including women local community leaders, including when carrying out urban planning, zoning, planning of transportation and production and maintenance of housing, taking into account accessibility requirements, and seek to provide greater clarity in the distribution of responsibilities and strengthen institutional cooperation and coordination between national and local governments;

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;

To ensure that reasonable accommodation measures for persons with disabilities are provided in relation to the right of adequate housing as a component of the right to an adequate standard of living in order to promote equality and eliminate discrimination;

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

Prohibiting all forms of discrimination, including against women and girls, persons with disabilities, older persons, internally displaced persons, refugees, migrants, Indigenous Peoples and people of African descent, facing multiple and intersecting forms of discrimination, 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 accessible 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, including against persons with disabilities, 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, inclusive 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, including with a disability-inclusive perspective;

Promoting the establishment of national human rights institutions, equality bodies, ombudspersons and civil society organizations supporting the interests of affected persons, and local community organizations, 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, and where applicable, to the Optional Protocols to the aforementioned conventions;

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 the reports of the Special Rapporteur, including the most recent report on the guiding principles on resettlement, and echoes the call of the guiding principles to prevent unnecessary resettlement and ensure that when resettlement cannot be avoided, it is carried out in conformity with international human rights law;

Decides to extend, for a period of three years, the mandate 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, as set out in Human Rights Council resolutions, in particular Council resolution 15/8 of 30 September 2010;

Requests the Special Rapporteur, in fulfilling the mandate, to continue to engage with States with a view to progressively achieving the full realization of the right to adequate housing as a component of an adequate standard of living, the New Urban Agenda and housing-related Sustainable Development Goals and targets, and to consult with civil society and other stakeholders, and to submit proposals and recommendations thereto;

Also requests the Special Rapporteur, in fulfilling the mandate, to work in close cooperation and coordination with other special procedures and subsidiary organs of the Human Rights Council, relevant United Nations bodies, the treaty bodies and regional human rights organizations;

Further requests the Special Rapporteur, in fulfilling the mandate, to pay special attention to the rights of, inter alia, women and girls, children, young persons, older persons, persons with disabilities, Indigenous Peoples, persons experiencing homelessness, persons in street situations and persons in vulnerable situations, and to mainstream a gender, age and disability perspective in the performance of the mandate;

Notes with appreciation the cooperation extended to the Special Rapporteur by different actors, and calls upon States:

To continue to cooperate fully with the Special Rapporteur in the discharge of his or her mandate and to respond favourably to his or her requests for information and visits;

To enter into a constructive dialogue with the Special Rapporteur with respect to the follow-up to and implementation of his or her recommendations;

Encourages all relevant stakeholders, including United Nations agencies, funds and programmes, human rights mechanisms, national human rights institutions, civil society, the private sector, donors and development agencies to cooperate fully with the Special Rapporteur in the fulfilment of the mandate;

Requests the Secretary-General and the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights to continue to provide all the resources necessary for the effective fulfilment of the mandate of the Special Rapporteur;

Requests the Special Rapporteur to continue to report, on an annual basis, to the Human Rights Council and, on a biennial basis, to the General Assembly, as of its eighty-second session;

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

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