Global Report on Human Settlements 2007 - PoA-ISS

Introduction
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strong efforts of the international community, might be
reasonably expected. Intensive building activities of social
housing and subsidized housing units, all of which could be
accessed by those on low incomes, might also be expected.
The activation of policy measures throughout the world
specifically designed to ensure that members of particularly
vulnerable groups, such as the elderly, the disabled or
homeless children, have access to adequate housing which
they can afford might be further anticipated. At the very
least, given that housing is treated as a right under international
human rights law, governments would be expected to
accurately monitor the scale of housing deprivation as a first
step towards the development of a more effective set of
housing laws and policies that would actually result in a fully
and adequately housed society. And yet, as reasonable as
these and other expectations may be, global housing policy
debates today can, in many respects, be boiled down to one
key discussion point: the question of tenure and tenure
security.
Security of tenure, of course, is crucial to any proper
understanding of the housing reality facing every household
throughout the world; indeed, the worse the standard of
one’s housing, generally the more important the question of
security of tenure will become. The degree of ‘security’ of
one household’s tenure will be instrumental in determining
the chances that they will face forced eviction, have access
to basic services such as water and electricity, be able to
facilitate improvements in housing and living conditions, and
be able to register their home or land with the authorities.
Indeed, one’s security of tenure impacts upon many areas of
life and is clearly a fundamental element of the bundle of
entitlements that comprise every individual’s housing rights.
The broad issue of security of tenure has been the subject of
extensive analysis during recent years in connection with
efforts such as the <strong>Global</strong> Campaign for Secure Tenure,
coordinated by UN-Habitat. There is also a growing realization
that the scale of insecure tenure is increasing and is
likely to worsen in coming years. It is widely accepted that
secure tenure is of vital importance for stability, economic
development, investment and the protection of human
rights. As stated by the World Bank:
Empirical evidence from across the world
reveals the demand for greater security of
tenure and illustrates that appropriate interventions
to increase tenure security can have
significant benefits in terms of equity, investment,
credit supply, and reduced expenditure of
resources on defensive activities. 4
At the same time, while a great deal has been written on the
clear linkages between security of tenure and the achievement
of the goal of access to adequate housing for all, the
fact remains that security of tenure often remains underemphasized
by policy-makers, perhaps overemphasized by
those with large vested interests in land, and, as a concept,
all too commonly misunderstood by those with the most to
gain from improved access to it. In particular, it is important
to note that security of tenure does not necessarily imply
ownership of land or housing (see Box III.1).
Thus, the following questions arise: is the renewed
focus on tenure a comprehensive enough approach to solve
the global housing crisis? Can security of tenure alone be
considered an adequate response to the massive growth of
slums and illegal settlements in the world’s cities? Is the
focus on security of tenure likely to be effective in a world
where states refuse or are unable to allocate the funds
required to house the poor majority? If we focus on security
of tenure, which type of tenure provides the best and most
appropriate forms of protections? Can a focus on tenure by
policy-makers, without a corresponding emphasis on infrastructure
improvements, service provision and proper
planning, actually yield desirable results? And perhaps the
most contentious questions of all: what is the proper role of
the state within the housing sector, and is the growing global
initiative in support of secure tenure, in practical terms, a
sufficient response to the broader aim of adequate housing
and housing rights for all? These and related questions are
explored in the chapters that follow.
NOTES
1 Habitat Agenda, para 40(b).
2 UN-Habitat, 2006e, p94.
3 UN-Habitat, 2006e.
4 World Bank, 2003b, p8.