Homelessness and being forcibly evicted from one’s home are major human rights issues both in Australia and overseas, in the Asia-Pacific Region and globally. According to the Centre on Housing Rights and Evictions, ‘an estimated 100 million people worldwide are without a place to live. Over one billion people are inadequately housed.’ ‘[T]he worldwide rate of forced evictions has practically doubled in the last two years, leaving nearly seven million people ejected – often violently – from their homes.’

A person facing homelessness may experience a denial of a range of human rights recognised in international law, including:

	Right to Adequate Housing
	Right to Freedom of Movement and Association
	Right to Privacy
	Right to Freedom from Discrimination and Equality before the law
	Right to Freedom from Cruel, Inhuman and Degrading Treatment
	Right to Life, Liberty and Security of the Person
	Right to Freedom of Expression
	Right to Culture
	Right to Participation in Public Life

Australian Discussions

The following are articles and reports that discuss homelessness in Australia as a denial of human rights, as set out in international human rights instruments with which Australia has agreed to comply. Some articles address how human rights language and international legal instruments and institutions can be used by, and in support of, people experiencing homelessness to advocate for change.

Cassandra Austin, 'Rights for the Homeless: Working Paper 5' (Australian Housing and Urban Research Institute, 1996)

Annemarie Devereux, ‘The right to housing in Australia’ in Scott Leckie (ed), National Perspectives on Housing Rights (2003)

Annemarie Devereux, ' Australia and the Right to Adequate Housing' (1991) 20 Federal Law Review 223

Mary Gaudron, 'Human Rights for the Homeless' (1999) 8a Human Rights Defender 17

Cassandra Goldie, 'Living in Public Space: a human rights wasteland?' (2002) 27(6) Alternative Law Journal 277

Homeless Persons' Legal Clinic et al, 'Homelessness and Human Rights in Australia: Submission to the Supported Accommodation Assistance Program (SAAP IV) National Evaluation' [ link to attached word document] (2003).

Phil Lynch & Jacqueline Cole, 'Homelessness and Human Rights: Regarding and Responding to Homelessness as a Human Rights Violation' (2003) 4 Melbourne Journal of International Law 139

Di Otto, 'Addressing Homelessness as a Violation of Human Rights in the Australian Context' (Paper presented at the 3rd National Homelessness Conference 'Beyond the Divide', Brisbane, 6-8 April 2003)

Di Otto, 'Homelessness and Human Rights: Engaging human rights discourse in the Australian context' (2002) 27(6) Alternative Law Journal 271.

Chris Sidoti, 'Housing as a Human Right' (Paper presented at the National Conference on Homelessness, Melbourne, 4 September 1996).

United Nations and the Right to Adequate Housing

The United Nations is actively involved in efforts to promote people’s basic rights to adequate housing amongst the international community.

In 2000, the United Nations Commission on Human Rights appointed a UN Special Rapporteur on the Right to Adequate Housing for three years. The UN Special Rapporteur is giving special attention to women and the right to adequate housing.

In March 2004, a community meeting was held in Melbourne, Australia to discuss the preparation of an NGO Report by women and their supporters from Australian communities to send to the UN Special Rapporteur.

A summary of the role of the United Nations in promoting the human right to adequate housing can be found at the United Nations Right to Adequate Human Rights web page and the Centre on Housing Rights and Evictions’ human rights resources web page.

International and Regional Publications

Some recent publications by overseas authors about homelessness, human rights and the law include:

Gary Blasi, 'Advocacy and Attribution: Shaping and Responding to Perceptions of the Causes of Homelessness' (2000) 19(2) Saint Louis University Public Law Review 207

Scott Leckie, ‘Strengthening Housing Rights by Advancing a Ten-Point International Agenda on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights’ (Paper presented at the Human Development and Human Rights Symposium, Oslo, Norway, 2-3 October 1998)

Maria Foscarinis, 'Downward Spiral: Homelessness and Its Criminalization' (1996) 14(1) Yale Law & Policy Review 1

Ashraf Mahomed, ‘Grootboom and its impact on Evictions: Rudolph and Ors v City of Cape Town’ (2003) 4(3) Economic and Social Rights Review

National Coalition for the Homeless, ‘Illegal to be Homeless: The Criminalisation of Homelessness in the United States’ (National Coalition for the Homeless, 2002)

National Law Center on Homelessness & Poverty, 'Punishing Poverty: The Criminalization of Homelessness, Litigation, and Recommendations for Solutions' (2003)

National Law Center on Homelessness & Poverty, 'Constructive Alternatives to Criminalization: Models to Replicate & Useful Tips to Consider' (2002)

National Law Center on Homelessness & Poverty, 'Combating the Criminalisation of Homelessness: A Guide to Understanding & Preventing Legislation that Criminalises Life-Sustaining Activities' (2002)

National Law Center on Homelessness & Poverty and National Coalition for the Homeless, ‘Illegal to be Homeless: The Criminalisation of Homelessness in the United States' (2002)

Kameshni Pillay, 'Implementation of the Grootboom Judgment - Implications for the right of access to adequate housing' (Paper presented at the Realising Socio-Economic Rights in South Africa: Progress and Challenges Colloquium, Cape, South Africa, 17-19 March 2002).

Bruce Porter, 'Human Rights and Development: The Right to Housing From Rhetoric to Practice' (Paper presented at the Human Development and Human Rights Symposium, Oslo, Norway, 2-3 October 1998).

Florence Wagman Roisman, 'The Lawyer as Abolitionist: Ending Homelessness and Poverty in Our Time' (2000) 19(2) Saint Louis University Public Law Review 237

International and Regional Human Rights Non-Government Organisations

There is a growing network of people experiencing homelessness around the globe and fighting for their basic human rights. There is also a range of non-government organisations working to support them.

Examples of overseas non-government organisations using human rights to support people who are homeless or experiencing housing stress include:

Asia Coalition for Housing Rights

Centre for Equality Rights in Accommodation

Centre on Housing Rights and Evictions

European Roma Rights Centre

National Law Centre on Homelessness and Poverty