Is housing only a human right on paper?
The housing shortage is a phenomenon affecting every part of the globe. The housing commodification and purposefully denying human rights to people in their most needs are vastly growing in cities thought and considered leaders. The 2019 documentary titled Push travels worldwide to demonstrate how growing housing commodification, denial of rights, and how communities are trying to fight it. The UN Special Rapporteur, Leilani Farha, traveled in different cities to demonstrate the growing phenomenon in both rich and poor neighborhoods. Some buildings and units are considered used occupied, but in reality, the space empty. Many times, the neighbors and communities can hardly point to the owner(s). These units and buildings are owned by large hedge fund companies, influential developers, and investment firms.
As I was watching the documentary, I could not help but wonder how we got here. Traditionally, houses could be accumulated as properties through bank loans. Banks are more focused on commerce. They want to see their loans flourish and create more deposits. However, some things started getting messy when financial firms got involved. They have an incentive to buy, hold, sell, and not necessarily to develop and improve.
Meanwhile, the assets that are being traded by the minute are people’s livelihoods and heritage. When this began, many governments did not know where or to turn to solve these issues. So, they turned to the people they deemed experienced enough, the financial firms. This helped create a cycle that people like Farha are trying to demonstrate and break.
Ensuring the right to decent and affordable housing is the responsibility of all three levels of government. However, as the years progressed, this became a more significant burden on the municipal governments, who cannot fully fund these projects. The COVID-19 pandemic worsened and highlighted what many were putting in the back burners for decades. Full collaboration and commitment are mandatory for housing to become a right beyond paper.
