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“Every person has the right to a comfortable standard of living that ensures, as well as his/her family, health and well-being, and especially food, clothing, housing, […]”¹. This is how the United Nations defined, in 1948, the right of every human being to housing, in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. However, this statement was not binding. On the other hand, the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights² was, signed and subsequently ratified by most of the countries of the world. In article 11.1 of this pact, the signatory countries undertake to take the appropriate measures to ensure this right. On the other hand, some Constitutions and laws of various countries include this right^3,4.

However, housing is a product that does not escape the logic of the market and that, therefore, is freely tradable in most countries around the globe, generating high doses of speculation⁵. In periods of crisis, this fact aggravates the situation of the impoverished classes⁶, they are rarely adequately protected by states.

In the current context, private property is prioritized to the detriment of the impoverished classes, who cannot access decent housing, either owned or rented⁷. Nor are there many more ways to get a roof⁸. In the specific case of Spain, the price of rents increased by around 50% between 2014 and 2019, and access to mortgage loans is also increasingly difficult⁹. Within the framework of the European Union, according to 2018 data, 9.6% of the population needed at least 40% of their income to pay for their housing; when it comes to rent, this percentage increased to 25.1%. 17.1% of the population lived in overcrowded houses and 4.3% of the people were evicted¹⁰.

By comparison, from 2010 to 2020, people’s incomes in the EU increased by 14.2%, while the price of housing increased by 25%¹¹.The risk of poverty rate in 2018 was 16.8%, reaching 23.5% in Romania or 21.5% in Spain¹².

The post-Covid trend, with skyrocketing unemployment rates¹³ and with neoliberalism’s little intention of helping the most disadvantaged classes¹⁴, suggests that access to housing will become increasingly difficult. The enriched classes try to preserve speculation by criminalizing those who, as the only way out, find the occupation of empty houses. But if the right to a home is not guaranteed through the promotion of public policies such as, for example, the limitation of rental prices carried out in Catalonia¹⁵; and as long as speculators do not lower their profit expectations to prioritize the right to housing, the occupation will not end.

1 https://www.un.org/es/universal-declaration-human-rights/ 2 https://www.ohchr.org/SP/ProfessionalInterest/Pages/CESCR.aspx 3 https://www.senado.gob.ar/bundles/senadoparlamentario/pdf/institucional/constitucion_nacional_argentina.pdf 4 https://www.finlex.fi/fi/laki/ajantasa/1999/19990731#L2P19 5 https://www.ohchr.org/EN/Issues/Housing/Pages/FinancializationHousing.aspx 6 https://www.ohchr.org/Documents/Issues/Housing/SR_housing_COVID-19_guidance_rent_and_mortgage_payers.pdf 7 https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/documents/6939681/7243182/Booklet_2020_rents_2019_e.pdf/c77c6c5a-48e4-0ed3-424a-02bcc99a2e7e 8 https://www.publico.es/sociedad/fraguas-audiencia-guadalajara-confirma-condena-seis-repobladores-pueblo-abanadonado.html 9 https://www.bde.es/f/webbde/SES/Secciones/Publicaciones/PublicacionesSeriadas/DocumentosOcasionales/20/Fich/do2013.pdf 10 https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/statistics-explained/index.php?title=File:Housing_cost_overburden_rate,_analysed_by_tenure_status,_2018_(%25)_SILC20.png 11 https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/web/products-eurostat-news/-/DDN-20201007-2?inheritRedirect=true&redirect=%2Feurostat%2Fweb%2Fhousing-price-statistics%2Fpublications 12 https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/statistics-explained/index.php?oldid=413297#Desigualdades_en_la_renta 13 https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/cache/infographs/economy/desktop/index.html 14 https://www.eldiario.es/economia/alemania-dar-vuelta-tuerca-condicionalidad-macroeconomica-fondo-recuperacion-europeo_1_6273030.html 15 https://www.20minutos.es/noticia/4387902/0/entra-vigor-ley-precio-alquileres-cataluna-martes/

Become Interest:

SCOTLAND: THE RIGHT OF SELF-DETERMINATION

THE COLOMBIAN PEACE PROCESS IS COMPROMISED

UNION FIGHT IN BRAZIL