UN report on housing in UK

The UN Special Rapporteur Raquel Ronik’s report into housing in the UK has just been released.

The report follows an official visit by the Ms Ronik to the UK last year.  During her visit, Ms Ronik investigated the right to adequate housing in the UK in light of international human rights standards. As part of this she looked at housing, land and planning policies and the elements of the benefits system that have been central to the provision of adequate housing.

Recommendations

Some of the headline recommendations in the report include:

• The spare-room subsidy (bedroom tax) should be suspended immediately and be fully re-evaluated in light of the evidence of its negative impacts on the right to adequate housing and general well-being of many vulnerable individuals and households
• Increasing regulation and accountability in relation to the private rented sector; adopting regulatory tenancy protections, including minimum length of contracts, restraints on rent increases and strict limits on eviction; encouraging the use of standardized human rights-compliant rental contracts; enhancing mechanisms of registration of landlords and letting agents, and establishing clear accountability mechanisms to eliminate discrimination in the private rented sector
• Putting in place additional efforts to address challenges to overcome persistent inequalities in housing in North Belfast. For this purpose, active, free and meaningful participation of all in decisions made about housing should be promoted, including in relation to the collection of official data, that should be disaggregated, open and accessible to all

Understanding how Human Rights impact on housing in Northern Ireland

Our Professional Resource on Human Rights and Possession Proceedings is a great resource for anyone interested in learning how Human Rights concerns impact on housing in Northern Ireland.