A/HRC/31/54 Even where there has been large-scale investment in affordable housing, such as in Sao Paulo, Brazil, the interests of speculative capital have dominated.15 Labour market deregulation, reduced rates of taxation on wealthier individuals and corporations, displacement by extractive industries, dams and other developments, the privatization of infrastructure and services, predatory lending and many other factors have all emerged from the abandonment of the central role of governments. 32. The proliferation of trade and investment agreements has dramatically altered State accountability, with the interests of large corporate investors prioritized over obligations to protect human rights and ensure the sustainability of local enterprises and communities. 33. Fiscal crises around the world have resulted in significant increases in homelessness and have given rise to a new category of homeless — highly educated individuals who had a good standard of living but who, due to an economic crisis, experienced unemployment and ultimately homelessness. The 2008 crisis, for example, and the accompanying austerity measures, caused a massive rise in homelessness in several European countries. 16 Evidence suggests, however, that widespread homelessness did not occur in the aftermath of the global economic crisis in countries where governments were careful to ensure that reactive measures did not undermine social protection. 34. The causes of homelessness vary among particular groups. Street-connected children come from families with a wide range of experiences, including death, dislocation, disease, isolation, poverty, mental illness, domestic violence, child abuse and drug use. Women are forced into homelessness because of violence, unequal access to land and property, unequal wages and other forms of discrimination. Persons with disabilities are made homeless by lack of work, livelihoods and accessible housing. Young people are often denied access to housing and services in cities if they do not have appropriate government-issued documentation or identity cards. Conflict results in massive displacement and migration, as has been evidenced clearly by the waves of refugees from countries such as Afghanistan, Eritrea, Iraq, Somalia and the Syrian Arab Republic escaping from conflict, widespread violence and insecurity. 35. Rural homelessness has been the result of decreasing food security from household production, climate change, corporatization of agriculture, loss of land through subdivision at inheritance, declining civil security in rural areas, extreme poverty, unregulated resource exploitation and natural disasters. Rural homelessness usually leads people to migrate to urban areas in search of work and housing. 36. Many societal changes without adequate State responses contribute to homelessness. For example, the break-up of traditional family structures is a prevalent cause of homelessness. Men who move to cities for economic reasons often forgo shelter in order to save money to send back to their families in rural areas. In many States, long traditions of extended family support and kinship responsibility at the community level have been eroded. Illness, including the HIV/AIDS pandemic, is both a major cause and effect of homelessness. 37. Natural disasters, such as the 2004 tsunami in South-East Asia and the 2008 earthquake that struck Sichuan Province, China, result in homelessness by destroying housing, infrastructure and livelihoods and setting back housing strategies. The earthquake 15 16 Response to the questionnaire from the Public Defender of Sao Paulo, Brazil. See, for illustration, the response to the questionnaire from the Spanish Ombudsman; Olga Theodorikakou et al, “‘Neo-homelessness’ and the Greek Crisis” (2013), available from http://feantsaresearch.org/IMG/pdf/ot_et_al_review.pdf; and European Commission, “Homelessness during the crisis”, available from http://ec.europa.eu/social/BlobServlet?docId=9847&langId=en. 9