The
report focuses on the “financialization of housing” and its impact on human
rights. It examines structural changes that have occurred in recent years
whereby massive amounts of global capital have been invested in housing as a
commodity, as security for financial instruments that are traded on global
markets, and as a means of accumulating wealth. The report assesses the effect
of those historic changes on the enjoyment of the right to adequate housing and
outlines an appropriate human rights framework for States to address them. The
report reviews the role of domestic and international law in that sphere, and
considers the application of principles of business and human rights.
The
report concludes with a review of States’ policy responses to the
financialization of housing and some recommendations for more coherent and
effective strategies to ensure that the actions of global financial
institutions and actors are consistent with ensuring access to housing for all
by 2030. The Special Rapporteur suggests that, as a way forward, States must
redefine their relationship with private investors and international financial
institutions, and reform the governance of financial markets so that, rather
than treating housing as a commodity valued primarily as an asset for the
accumulation of wealth they reclaim housing as a social good, and thus ensure
the human right to a place to live in security and dignity.
* Click here to download the report.