Global Report on Human Settlements 2007 - PoA-ISS

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Security of tenure
Box 6.15 Constitutional recognition of housing rights
Constitutional clauses from a cross-section of countries reveal that
national laws can, and often do, recognize and enshrine housing
rights:
Armenia (Article 31): every citizen is entitled to an adequate
standard of living for himself or herself and his or her family, to
adequate housing, as well as to the improvement of living conditions.
The state shall provide the essential means to enable the
exercise of these rights.
Belgium (Article 23(3)): everyone has the right to enjoy a life in
conformity with human dignity… These rights include, in particular,
the right to adequate housing.
Honduras (Article 178): all Hondurans have the right to decent
housing. The state shall design and implement housing programmes
of social interest.
Mexico (Article 4): every family has the right to enjoy decent
and proper housing. The law shall establish the instruments and
necessary supports to reach the said goal.
Nicaragua (Article 64): Nicaraguans have the right to decent,
comfortable and safe housing that guarantees familial privacy. The
state shall promote the fulfilment of this right.
The Philippines (Article 13(9)): the state shall by law, and for
the common good, undertake, in cooperation with the private
sector, a continuing programme of urban land reform and housing
which will make available at affordable cost decent housing and
basic services to underprivileged and homeless citizens in urban
centres and resettlement areas.
Portugal (Article 65(1)): everyone shall have the right for
himself and his family to a dwelling of adequate size satisfying
standards of hygiene and comfort and preserving personal and
family privacy.
Russian Federation (Article 40(1)): each person has the right
to housing. No one may be arbitrarily deprived of housing.
South Africa (Article 26(1)): everyone has the right to have
access to adequate housing. The state must take reasonable
progressive legislative and other measures to secure this right.
Spain (Article 47): all Spaniards have the right to enjoy decent
and adequate housing.
eviction is not arbitrary, and the requirement that relocation
and resettlement be offered to evictees (see Box 6.16). The
legislation in a number of other countries has similar provisions.
The following list comprises a small sample of the
many diverse ways in which governments have legislated in
favour of security of tenure rights:
• Brazil: the Statute of the City is grounded in the ‘social
function of the city’ and guarantees ‘the right to
sustainable cities, understood as the right to urban land,
housing, environmental sanitation, urban infrastructure,
transportation and public services, to work and leisure
for current and future generations’ (see also Box
11.8). 43
• France: the 1990 Law 90/449 on the right to housing
provides an example of how national legislation
mandates public provision of affordable housing for
those in need.
• India: The 1984 Madhya Pradesh Act No 15 (Slum
Dwellers Protection Act) confers tenure to landless
persons in urban areas who had settled on land plots of
less than 50 square metres for a prescribed period.
• Tanzania: the 1999 Land Act recognizes the tenure
rights of those residing in informal settlements.
Residents in unplanned urban settlements have their
rights recorded and maintained by the relevant land
allocating authority and that record is registered. All
interests on land, including customary land rights that
exist in the planning areas, are identified and recorded;
the land rights of peri-urban dwellers are fully
recognized and rights of occupancy issued; and upgrading
plans are prepared and implemented by local
authorities with the participation of residents and their
local community organizations. Local resources are
mobilized to finance the plans through appropriate costrecovery
systems. 44
• Trinidad and Tobago: the 1998 Regularization of Tenure
Act establishes a Certificate of Comfort that can be
used to confer security of tenure on squatters as the
first step in a process designed to give full legal title to
such persons. 45
• Uganda: the 1995 Constitution and the 1998 Land Act
together confer security of tenure through ownership
rights (including customary law ownership) or perpetual
lease rights on lawful and bona fide occupiers of land.
Certificates of occupancy of the land are also made
accessible under the laws. 46
• United Kingdom: the 1977 Protection from Eviction Act
creates various offences for anyone who unlawfully
evicts residential occupiers from their homes, and
provides an example of how a government can protect
housing rights from forms of interference other than
interference by the state.
ADDRESSING VIOLATIONS
OF SECURITY OF TENURE
RIGHTS
… our level of tolerance in response to
breaches of economic, social and cultural rights
remains far too high. As a result, we accept with
resignation or muted expressions of regret,
violations of these rights… We must cease treating
massive denials of economic, social and
cultural rights as if they were in some way
‘natural’ or inevitable. 47