A/HRC/43/43 provided by employers suffering grossly inadequate conditions or abuse, allowing them to be relocated to adequate accommodation and to re-employment without prejudice;66 (d) Refugees and internally displaced persons who have been unlawfully or arbitrarily deprived of their former homes, lands, properties or places of habitual residence must be ensured a right to return consistent with the principles on housing and property restitution for refugees and displaced persons.67 Guideline No. 11. Ensure the capacity and accountability of local and regional governments for the realization of the right to adequate housing 59. Local and regional governments have been assigned crucial responsibilities related to the right to adequate housing in most States. These may include: producing and managing social housing and infrastructure, land-use planning, upgrading informal settlements and regulating investor-driven markets. Local governments can therefore play an essential role in the realization of the right to housing. They are closest to affected communities and better able to ensure participatory decision-making and to develop innovative solutions adapted to local circumstances. 60. However, local and regional governments are often inattentive to or unaware of their obligations with respect to the right to adequate housing under international human rights law. They are often allocated responsibilities without a commensurate allocation of resources, knowledge, capacity and accountability mechanisms for the realization of the right to housing.68 61. In fact, forced evictions, discriminatory denials of services to informal settlements, homeless “sweeps” and the loss of affordable housing through speculation and financialization, are frequently perpetrated or facilitated by local governments. 62. The allocation of responsibilities for implementing the right to housing within a State is a matter of internal decision-making but must be consistent with the State’s obligation to realize the right to housing. It must be clear which government can be held accountable, and how, and there must be coordination among national, regional and local authorities for the realization of the right to housing. 69 63. Implementation measures: (a) The obligations of local and regional governments to implement the right to housing within clearly delineated areas of responsibilities must be established in legislation. 70 Housing policies and programmes at all levels of government should be coordinated through national-level leadership and oversight as well as by intergovernmental bodies with an explicit mandate to promote and ensure compliance with the right to housing.71 Provision should be made for promptly resolving questions of jurisdiction on the basis of the principle that human rights should never be compromised by jurisdictional disputes; (b) Local and regional governments should implement human rights-based housing strategies, as described in guideline No. 4 above, consistent with those implemented at the national level and establish their own monitoring and accountability 66 67 68 69 70 71 See the Domestic Workers Recommendation, 2011 (No. 201), para. 7, of the International Labour Organization. E/CN.4/Sub.2/2005/17, annex. See also the Guiding Principles on Internal Displacement, A/64/255, para. 55, the Principles and Guidelines on the Human Rights Protection of Migrants in Vulnerable Situations, principle 8, the Global Compact for Safe, Orderly and Regular Migration, objective 13, and the global compact on refugees, para. 60. A/HRC/28/62, para. 5, and A/HRC/42/22. Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, general comment No. 4, para. 12. A/HRC/27/59, para. 31. A/HRC/37/53, para. 51. 15