A/HRC/43/43 I. Introduction 1. This is the final report of the Special Rapporteur on adequate housing as a component of the right to an adequate standard of living, and on the right to nondiscrimination in this context, Leilani Farha. Based on her experiences during her mandate and responding to global housing conditions, the Special Rapporteur is presenting the Guidelines for the Implementation of the Right to Adequate Housing. 1 2. More than 1.8 billion people worldwide lack adequate housing, and the number of people living in informal settlements has now surpassed 1 billion. 2 It is estimated that 15 million people are forcibly evicted every year and that approximately 150 million people are homeless.3 3. Private developers and investors are dominating housing systems in an unprecedented fashion, often divorcing housing from its social function by treating it as a commodity for speculation. The land on which informal settlements are located and affordable housing have become prime targets for private equity firms and pension funds looking for undervalued assets in which to park, grow and leverage capital, making housing and land increasingly unaffordable. 4. The present global housing crisis is not like any previous crisis of its kind. It is not caused by a decline in resources or an economic downturn but rather by economic growth, expansion and growing inequality. Housing has become a key driver of growing socioeconomic inequality, increasing wealth for those who own housing and driving those who do not into greater debt and poverty. 5. This situation raises unique challenges for the implementation of the right to housing. Tinkering around the edges of an unsustainable model of economic development will not work. The right to housing must be implemented in a manner that changes the way housing is currently conceived, valued, produced and regulated. 6. There is reason to believe change is possible. Both civil society and governments are increasingly recognizing the housing crisis as a human rights crisis requiring a human rights response. Neighbourhoods and communities around the world are organizing against detrimental development, “touristification” and speculation and are gaining the support of a growing number of local governments in affirming their right to adequate housing. 7. There remains, however, a lack of clarity among many in government and in civil society about what it actually means to implement the right to housing in a comprehensive and effective manner so as to meet these unprecedented challenges. 8. Fortunately, there is a well-established framework in international human rights law from which States and rights holders can draw. The content of the right to adequate housing has been the subject of extensive commentary and jurisprudence within the international human rights system and has been a central focus of human rights advocacy globally. 4 9. The Guidelines set out below build on the normative standards that have emerged from this jurisprudence, as well as from the recommendations and experiences of the 1 2 3 4 The Special Rapporteur thanks all the researchers and students who assisted in this and other reports, including Stefania Errico, Sam Freeman and Julieta Perucca. A special thanks is extended to Bruce Porter for his extensive work on the present report and throughout the duration of the mandate. Sincere thanks also go to the staff of the Special Procedures Branch of the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR), in particular Juana Sotomayor, Gunnar Theissen, Madoka Saji, Jon Izagirre and Natacha Foucard, for their support for the mandate. See https://unstats.un.org/sdgs/report/2019/goal-11. See https://fe.witness.org and https://yaleglobal.yale.edu/content/cities-grow-so-do-numbershomeless. See, e.g., the Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights’ general comments No. 4 (1991) on the right to adequate housing and No. 7 (1997) on forced evictions. See also the basic principles and guidelines on development-based evictions and displacement (A/HRC/4/18, annex I), the guiding principles on security of tenure for the urban poor (A/HRC/25/54) and the Views of the Committee in Ben Djazia and Bellili v. Spain (E/C.12/61/D/5/2015) and I.D.G. v. Spain (E/C.12/55/D/2/2014). 3