A/HRC/31/54
communities involved in resettlement and recognizing the obligations of private landlords
to ensure that no one is evicted into homelessness. 59
62.
In many countries, social movements are incorporating legal strategies into broader
political strategies to challenge homelessness and affirm the right to adequate housing.
Abahlali baseMjondolo, the South African shack-dwellers’ movement, and other
organizations in South Africa have developed approaches to social mobilization linked to
legal strategies to claim rights, without losing sight of the fundamentally political nature of
the struggle for adequate housing. 60
63.
In Argentina, the non-governmental organization Centro de Estudios Legales y
Sociales has integrated test-case litigation to advance the right to adequate housing for
homeless people with political initiatives, in order to change the way land, property and
housing is distributed and ensure broader access to justice. The newly adopted Law for the
Province of Buenos Aires on Access to Dignified Habitat affirms a number of guiding
principles, including the right to the city, the social function of property, meaningful
democratic participation and equitable sharing of benefits of urbanization.
64.
The Special Rapporteur is encouraged by the proliferation of locally based initiatives
to create more robust human rights frameworks, programmes, policies and laws, whether
they take the form of new constitutional rights, charters on the right to the city/human rights
city, local ordinances or enhanced mandates for human rights institutions and
ombudspersons. Much more is needed, however. The implementation of a human rights
framework for governance at all levels is the most critical component of any strategy for the
elimination of homelessness.
VII. Metrics of homelessness and human rights accountability
65.
Measuring the extent of homelessness among different groups helps to assess
priorities, ensure effective design and implementation of policy responses and determine
whether States are meeting their human rights obligations. According to the Committee on
Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, States have an obligation to measure the extent of
homelessness, using data disaggregated by gender, race and other relevant characteristics,
and to establish effective means of monitoring progress. 61
66.
Beyond national measures of homelessness, there is also a need for global
indicators. Addressing homelessness should be a central part of global development goals.
While the Sustainable Development Goals omit any explicit reference to homelessness,
target 11.1 of the Goals commits States to ensure access for all to adequate, safe and
affordable housing and basic services and upgrading slums by 2030. Measuring and
committing to reduce and eliminate homelessness with clear benchmarks and timelines will
be critical to the successful realization of this target.
67.
There are, however, serious challenges in measuring homelessness, both within
States and globally, that need to be addressed. It has proven difficult to secure accurate and
comparable data from all States in order to develop reliable global data. The Statistics
Division of the Department of Economic and Social Affairs has noted that data on the
59
60
61
16
See City of Johannesburg Metropolitan Municipality v. Blue Moonlight Properties 39 (Pty) Ltd and
Another, case No. CCT 37/11, paras. 46, 54 and 57.
See Jackie Dugard et al., “Rights-compromised or rights-savvy? The use of rights-based strategies to
advance socio-economic struggles by Abahlali baseMjondolo, the South African shack-dwellers’
movement”, Social and Economic Rights in Theory and Practice (2014).
See the Committee’s general comment No. 4 on the right to adequate housing.