Right to Housing

At a time of mass homelessness, deepening tenant precarity, and the criminalization of poverty, housing justice movements are pushing for a right to housing in California. In this convening, current and former UN Special Rapporteurs on Adequate Housing provide insight and guidance on key elements of such a right, how such a right can be informed by an international human rights framework, and how such a right can become an actionable government obligation. In conversation with prominent housing justice leaders, they will take up questions such as: What does the right to housing mean for those without a right to recognized housing, notably unhoused communities?  How can the right to housing address the effects of global financialization on housing markets and housing systems? Is there a vision of social housing that can be a core part of such a right? How might the right to housing remake highly unequal relations of property and land?

• Raquel Rolnik, 2008 – 2014 || Click here to view remarks made by UN Special Rapporteur Raquel Rolnik
• Leilani Farha, 2014 – 2020 || Click here to view remarks made by UN Special Rapporteur Leilani Farha
• Balakrishnan Rajagopal, 2020 – 2026 || Click here to view remarks made by UN Special Rapporteur Balakrishnan Rajagopal

• Gary Blasi, Tenant Power Toolkit
• Clarissa Woo Hermosillo, ACLU Southern California
• Christina Livingston, ACCE
• Pete White, Los Angeles Community Action Network

• Ananya Roy, UCLA Luskin Institute on Inequality and Democracy

>> Sign up to join the campaign to make housing a right in California