Homelessness in the United States and the Human Right to Housing

Housing is recognized internationally as a basic human right. Yet in the United States there is an increasing lack of affordable housing, a growing trend of criminalization of the homeless and too few means to assist those in need. Because of this, there is reason to believe the U.S. is violating the international human right to housing.

This report recommends that Congress adopt the Bringing America Home Act and the National Affordable Housing Trust Fund Act as steps toward realizing the right to housing in the U.S. In addition, it recommends that states implement plans to provide adequate, affordable housing and cities end the criminalization of the homeless.

This report addresses many of the issues causing homelessness in the U.S. including a lack of affordable housing, a minimum wage rate that is not sufficient to pay for housing, a cut in the number of housing vouchers for low-income families, and current U.S. policy that does not support housing as a human right.

In addition, the implications for housing as a human right from the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, Habitat Agenda and the work of the United Nations Office of the High Commission for Human Rights are discussed. The report emphasizes the United States failure to address the issue of a lack of housing when several European countries, and even numerous developing countries, have incorporated the right to housing in their constitutions, legislation or both.

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