Protecting the Right to Housing in England: A Context of Crisis

Abstract

This parallel report on the enjoyment of the right to housing in England was submitted to the UN as part of NGO JustFair's submission to the Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (CESCR), as part of the UK's periodic review under the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR) in May 2016.The report details that England is experiencing a housing crisis. Exceptionally high numbers of people are homeless, or vulnerable to homelessness. The current housing environment is characterised by deep cuts to social welfare benefits, profound issues of lack of supply, high and further increasing housing costs, lack of security of tenure, and homes of such poor quality that they are unfit for habitation. These issues plague all of England’s main housing tenure types: the owner occupied, the private rental sector (PRS), and the social housing sector. Housing insecurity affects not only people on low incomes, but broad swathes of the English population, who currently live in situations of insecurity and uncertainty.In this context of crisis, the government is failing to meet its obligations to ensure the right to housing of its population, so that everyone can enjoy a standard of living in homes that are adequate, safe, and secure.The UK accepted international obligations to respect, protect and fulfill the right to housing under the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR) when it ratified the ICESCR in 1976. It undertook to take progressive steps towards the realisation of the right to housing, using all the means at its disposal, both financial and otherwise.In a climate of austerity, it is vital to point out that the government is obliged not to take regressive (that is, backward), steps or strip away enjoyment of the right to housing unless this is absolutely necessary. Any backward movement must be justified under the strictest possible criteria.Yet a growing number of individuals and families in England are not able to secure the adequate, safe and affordable housing that the ICESCR requires. Homelessness is rising. Housing is increasingly unaffordable, and legislative changes have weakened key safety nets for English households.This report focuses on two areas of particular concern in England, which show that the UK government is manifestly failing to discharge its obligations for the right to adequate housing under the ICESCR.These are first, homelessness, and second, multiple concerns with the quality, affordability, and regulation of the Private Rental Sector (PRS).Both areas illustrate serious concerns with retrogression in the enjoyment of the right to adequate housing; and how current law and policy over housing fails to protect some of England’s most vulnerable and marginalised individuals and families.