About Us

Who Are We?

Housing Rights Watch is an interdisciplinary European network of associations, lawyers and academics from different countries, who are committed to promoting the right to housing. The right to housing has been recognised as one of the most important fundamental human rights and what we seek is the realisation of every person’s right to live in dignity and to have a secure, adequate and affordable place to live.

The network was set-up in Cardiff in November 2008 in order to facilitate exchange and mutual learning among housing rights experts and advocates.

What are Our Aims?

Share information on legislative and judiciary initiatives (case-law database, judicial analysis, monitoring of normative outcomes);
Support Judicial proceedings at local, national and international level;
Monitor and intervene on the factual and systemic denial of rights observed at various levels;
Monitor the development of the housing situation from a rights-based perspective;
Support change in public policies at national and European level with the aim of better implementing the right to housing;
Support the setting-up of national networks on the right to housing across Europe.

What themes Do We Work On?

THE RIGHT TO HOUSING

FEANTSA and its members are committed to the promotion and respect of fundamental human rights for all. We seek to advance the right of every person to live indignity and promote the right of all people to have a secure, adequate and affordable place to live. We are committed to preventing and reducing homelessness with a view to its progressive elimination and to the realisation of internationally recognised housing rights.

Access to housing can be considered as being a precondition for the exercise of most of the other fundamental rights. Housing rights are enshrined in widely ratified international instruments and in several EU Member States national laws. However, their concrete implementation remains unsatisfactory in many countries, as housing rights have not been accorded the same level of priority as access to other forms of social protection.

Many of our member organisations have been advocating for housing rights for a long time. FEANTSA works to coordinate these efforts at European level and to promote a rights-based approach to tackling homelessness.

CRIMINALISATION OF HOMELESSNESS

Cities, regions and even some countries across Europe are using the criminal justice system to minimise the visibility of people experiencing homelessness. Some local governments are motivated by the complaints of business owners, residents and politicians who feel that homelessness threatens the safety and livability of their cities and towns. These feelings have led governments to introduce formal and informal measures and enforcement policies to restrict where people experiencing homelessness can congregate and to penalise those who engage in life-sustaining or natural human activities in public spaces.

Action is needed at all levels of policy-making to raise awareness and end the criminalisation and punishment of homelessness in Europe.