The European Committee of Social Rights examined, under the reporting system of the Charter, the right to housing under Articles 16 and 31 in 2019 and published its conclusions in March 2020. Unfortunately, the conclusions did not have the desired impact due to the health crisis but they remain relevant precisely to understand the situation preceding the crisis.
The Committee’s conclusions reflect a relatively low degree of compliance with the provisions of Article 31.
Under Article 31§1 (adequacy of housing), Andorra and Finland are in conformity with this provision and eight others in non-conformity.
Most of the conclusions of non-conformity are related to the substandard housing conditions of Roma and Travellers (France, Greece, Italy, Latvia, Portugal, Turkey, and Ukraine). Others are related to more general problems such as substandard housing for a large number of dwellings (France), supervision of housing standards (Lithuania) and the lack of rules imposing obligations on landlords to ensure that dwellings are of an adequate standard (Turkey).
As regards Article 31§2 (reduction of homelessness), only Finland is in conformity with this provision as the Committee considers that Finland continues to be committed to tackling homelessness in compliance with the Charter with measures aimed at eliminating homelessness. The eight other countries are not in conformity with this provision of the Charter on the following grounds:
- insufficient legal protection for persons threatened by eviction (forced eviction), including on specific issues under this topic such as the prohibition of evictions during wintertime (Andorra, France, Greece, Lithuania, Portugal, Turkey and Ukraine);
- the rights of Roma and Travellers are not respected during the eviction procedures (France, Greece, Italy);
- the measures to reduce and prevent homelessness in general are insufficient (France, Italy, and Turkey);
- the protection of the right to shelter is insufficient.
Finally, under Article 31§3 on affordable housing, one country is in conformity (Finland), three in non-conformity (France, Italy and Portugal) and in two cases the Committee couldn’t assess the situation due to lack of sufficient information (Greece and Turkey).
The conclusions of non-conformity with Article 31§3 basically concern the shortage of social housing (France and Portugal) and the lack of equal treatment of foreign nationals lawfully residing with regard to social housing and housing benefits (length of residence requirements in Italy, in connection with Article 19§4). Two conclusions of non-conformity concern access of Roma, Travellers and Sinti to social housing or housing assistance (France and Italy).
Some of the issues raised in the questions formulated to states for the next reporting cycle are related to the overall availability of social housing (number of applications introduced, percentage of those granted, and average of waiting times) and to housing support and benefits for foreign nationals lawfully residing in the country.
For more information on the latest conclusions of the European Committee of Social Rights on Article 31, please consult the country evaluation on HUDOC Social Charter data base.
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The right to housing is also examined under Article 16 (the right of the family to social, legal and economic protection) of the European Social Charter.
Article 16 guarantees the right of the family to social, legal and economic protection. Under this provision, the Committee examines housing for families, childcare, family counselling services, participation of associations representing families, rights and obligations of spouses, mediation services, domestic violence against women and family benefits.
18 states Parties (out of 29 having accepted this article) were found not to be in conformity on the issue of housing for families: Azerbaijan, Austria, Belgium, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Estonia, France, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Malta, Republic of Moldova, North Macedonia, Portugal, Romania, Russian Federation and Slovak Republic.
The specific grounds for non-conformity were:
- equal treatment of foreign nationals (length of residence requirement) – two states: Austria, Malta;
- adequate housing (general) – one state: Azerbaijan (conformity not established);
- sufficient supply of adequate housing for (vulnerable) families – two states: Ireland (conformity not established) and the Russian Federation;
- legal protection for persons threatened by eviction – four states: Bosnia and Herzegovina, Estonia, Hungary, Romania;
- vulnerable families (Roma and Travellers’ families) – 12 states: Belgium, Bulgaria, France, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Republic of Moldova, Portugal, Romania, Russian Federation and Slovak Republic.
For more information on the latest conclusions of the European Committee of Social Rights on Article 16, please consult the HUDOC Social Charter data base.
