The latest Report of the Special Rapporteur on adequate housing as a component of the right to an adequate standard of living, and on the right to non-discrimination in this context was released on February 15.
Leilani Farha latest report provides governments with guidance on developing and implementing rights-based housing strategies.
This article was first published in OpenGlobalRights (Open Democracy)
On February 23, 2017, the so-called Keeping People in Their Homes Bill 2017 was introduced in the Dáil Éireann, the Assembly of Ireland. On the basis of EU law, the bill would allow Irish judges or County Registrars to carry out a proportionality assessment in home repossession and eviction cases.
This means courts could consider the fundamental human rights of borrowers facing homelessness and opt for alternative arrangements that are less onerous than home loss.
Adrian Berry
Barrister at Garden Court Chambers
A shorter version of this article was first published for Legal Action magazine in the UK; thereafter expanded for his blog, Cosmopolis: Migration, Citizenship, and Free Movement
The Master of the High Court in Ireland, Edmund Honohan, criticized the Irish government for allowing courts handling home repossession and eviction cases to “pump people into homelessness,” according to The Irish Times. Honohan faulted the Irish state for not having procedures in place that would ensure courts apply EU consumer law in these cases.
