Analysis if the right to housing in Europe. A year marked by the pandemic

Download here.

On 18 December 2020, the European Committee of Social Rights, which monitors compliance with the human rights enshrined in the European Social Charter, declared the Collective Complaint against the Czech Republic admissible.

FEANTSA had lodged a Collective Complaint against the Czech Republic in February 2020, requesting the Committee to find that the situation in the Czech Republic amounts to a violation of Article 16 of the European Social Charter, read alone and in the light of the non-discrimination clause contained in the Preamble of the 1961 Charter.

Today we launch the “Model emergency housing legislation”, the result of the joint effort of a wide coalition of global organisations, led by OSF Justice Initiative and with the collaboration of FEANTSA/ Housing Rights Watch. 

The seminar focused on the different avenues to advance housing rights in Italy using European tools and domestic legislation.

It was mainly addressed to our Italian FEANTSA members and their member organisations in Italy although we had invited other NGOs and practitioners with an interest on housing rights.

Date of decision: 5 March 2020

Jurisdiction:  UN Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, Optional Protocol to the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights

Country: Spain

Legal basis: Violation of the Right to adequate housing, Article 11 of the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights:

Subject: Eviction from rented property without alternative accommodation.

In Italy there is no provision in the constitutional dictum that enshrines the right to housing as a social right expressly recognized. Constitutional jurisprudence began to outline the contours of this right in the early 1980s, but always placed it in a position serving for the affirmation of other rights related to it.

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.