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The reason behind homelessness in the world: “More than 3 billion people could be homeless” - La Nacion Propiedades
Source:
www.lanacion.com.ar
October 21, 2024
UN expert points to several reasons behind homelessness, but also suggests solutions
By Gerardo Lissardy
According to official data, nearly one in five inhabitants of the planet lives without an adequate home.
The number of homeless people , which is increasing in several countries , from Chile to Spain and the United States, is the tip of the iceberg of what the United Nations special rapporteur on adequate housing describes as a “massive crisis” on a global scale .
“While we talk about artificial intelligence, settling on Mars and other unattainable ideas, we forget that a large part of humanity lacks access to basic things like housing ,” says Balakrishnan Rajagopal in an interview with BBC Mundo.
According to estimates, nearly one in five people on the planet lives without adequate housing, despite this being a human right, and the figure could exceed 3 billion people in a few years.
A lawyer and professor of law and development at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in the United States, Rajagopal points to several reasons behind the phenomenon. But he also suggests solutions such as: protecting tenants more from evictions and argues that, despite the “perpetual shortage” of housing in Latin America, some countries in the region offer examples to take into account.
The following is a summary of the telephone conversation between BBC Mundo and this international expert who has investigated issues such as displacement, land rights and evictions .
Is the world experiencing a housing crisis?
-Yes, the world experienced and is experiencing a massive housing crisis with different dimensions .
We have a crisis of affordable housing , of forced displacement, of criminalization of homeless populations and we also have a crisis in providing adequate housing for those displaced by climate change .
When people are displaced and lose their homes , they wander from place to place without proper resettlement and fall deeper into poverty and hopelessness .
This is creating secondary and tertiary crises.
Rajagopal argues that rather than recognizing housing as a human right, governments often treat it as a commodity. Getty Images
- Can you give figures?
-We estimate that around 1.6 billion people lack adequate housing worldwide . If current trends continue, this figure could double by 2030.
There are more than 110 million forcibly displaced people .
These numbers have grown due to the increase in conflicts around the world that are forcing people to flee their homes . We saw this in Syria, Ukraine, Gaza and Palestine. We also saw people fleeing their homes due to economic or political crises such as the one in Venezuela, which produced a large number of migrants.
Those displaced by climate change could rise sharply as they begin to cross into other countries if ocean levels rise ever faster and desertification, rainfall, flooding and fires increase. We have seen this trend from the US to Australia, Europe, Latin America and countries in Asia.
Regarding the affordable housing crisis , more and more people around the world are unable to afford a decent home . We estimate that the number is over 100 million people and growing significantly.
-Is the figure of 1.6 billion people without adequate shelter and basic services unprecedented in history?
- It is fair to say that it is unprecedented because of the nature of the problem. Inadequate housing was not considered a problematic condition by human beings for a long time. It is rather about recognizing decent housing as something worth defending.
Furthermore, as we have seen in Latin America , the number of people living in urban areas increased and in the 1960s exceeded the capacity of countries to provide adequate housing.
This is how large informal settlements , known as slums, have emerged, especially in developing countries. And those living in most of these settlements still lack adequate housing .
- Are there Latin American countries that concern you more?
I am very concerned about the impact of displacement caused by political crises or conflicts in the region , including Venezuela.
I am very concerned about the impact of climate change in countries in the region, including Central America. In countries like El Salvador or Guatemala, the impacts are very strong.
We see a combination of the impact of Covid-related measures, inflation and a growing lack of access to housing due to a perpetual housing shortage in countries in the region.
All this means that there is a real economic and social crisis in the region , because the biggest expense in a person's life is housing .
So it is very important that housing prices and affordability are in order . Otherwise, most people will feel vulnerable and can easily fall into crisis. And it is very difficult to get them out of the crisis.
People living on the streets: an increasingly common image in different cities
-And what is the situation in the US, the world's largest economy?
There is a very serious crisis , with more than 650,000 homeless people in the US, counting only those who sleep on the streets and in shelters. If we adopt the definition that is gaining more and more acceptance in Europe, we would perhaps be talking about double that number.
This has become a political issue in the current elections , with one party arguing that the homeless crisis can be solved with extremely violent measures, with threats to deport the homeless from the cities and put them in what appear to be concentration camps, something alarming, dangerous and contrary to human rights .
The root of the homelessness crisis in the U.S. is that they can't build housing fast enough . And what they have isn't affordable for most people because of rules governing who can access it, administered by communities in a way that keeps out those they consider undesirable.
The answer is to say that we are going to put homeless people in jail or impose sanctions on them . The recent Supreme Court decision in the Grants Pass, Oregon, case gives the green light to this approach.
So more and more cities and even state governments are taking this very dangerous position . Other approaches that work are not considered.
People are losing their homes because rents keep going up , and when they can't afford to pay, they are evicted. This disproportionately affects minorities, people of color, women, and children. It should be one of the most important public policy challenges for any government . But that's not happening yet.
-Do you see anything similar in Europe?
-I see similar trends in most European countries . I was recently in Northern Ireland, where there is a huge underlying crisis of affordable housing, homelessness because of that, a failure to invest in building housing and a growing demonisation of homeless people.
I also saw this in the Netherlands, where some political parties blame migrants, particularly non-Western migrants, for the crisis, which is inaccurate and unfair.
The housing crisis there is due to wrong policies . But it was easier for politicians to say that it is due to migrants. Even instead of pointing the finger at Ukrainians who are arriving in the country in greater numbers, they pointed the finger at those coming from countries in the global south, for example Syrians or Afghans, because it is always convenient to blame someone who doesn’t look like you .
- What you say is shocking: in an era of increasing consumerism, access to goods and technology that was unimaginable a long time ago, more and more people have difficulty accessing basic services and adequate housing, a fundamental human right…
- Exactly. It's almost as if the trees hide the forest. Because while we talk about artificial intelligence, settling on Mars and other unattainable ideas, we forget that a large part of humanity lacks access to basic things like housing , food, clean water or sanitation.
And we're not doing a good job of addressing those problems.
Homelessness crisis has become an election issue in the US, with one party calling for "extremely violent measures," says Rajagopal
- You say that this is a political problem. Does the responsibility lie with governments?
- Yes, because governments have not recognised important things like housing, food, water and sanitation as human rights . Instead, they have treated them as commodities that are bought and sold like any other good on the market.
Housing is a human right . And unfortunately, that market paradigm of housing was too dominant in country after country. Housing finance, which is the tendency to treat housing as a financial asset, is one of the root causes of the housing crisis.
Countries should change their attitude and ensure that housing is protected as a human right. This means giving it at least the same status as other rights that underpin a market economy, such as the right to private property, which is better protected in many countries.
It should come as no surprise that housing is becoming less and less available to people , because it is treated as a commodity .
- Is the financing problem political or can it also be attributed to banks and other financial institutions?
- It is fundamentally a political problem , because financing is an issue that can be regulated and its negative consequences are due to a lack of regulation.
The problem is the unregulated nature of financial flows and the dominance of financial institutions to make decisions in their own interest, which in reality does not reflect the general interest of society. That is why strong regulation is necessary .
We don't even have an international treaty regulating financial flows. It's terrible that there are billions of dollars in circulation and there is no way to regulate them at a global level.
It all depends on the governments of large hegemonic states and especially the United States, because all financial transactions ultimately pass through their financial system.
In effect, the US functions as the global financial regulator . The rest of the world pays a price for this hegemony . It is unacceptable.
- Many people blame online platforms like Airbnb or Booking for the rising housing costs in different cities. What is the real impact of these platforms on the housing affordability crisis?
- Platforms can make a crisis worse once it exists, but they cannot create it .
When platforms enter a market with a shortage of affordable housing, they take many homes off the housing market and hold them for short-term rentals. That exacerbates the existing crisis. And people wrongly conclude that platforms are the reason for the crisis .
But in nine out of ten cases, the affordable housing crisis is due to structural problems .
One is the lack of control over the price of land, which is the most expensive part of building a house. If the government does not control the price of land , it cannot ensure affordable housing .
In San Diego, California, more than 70% of land is sold to private individuals. Compare that to wealthy cities without an affordable housing crisis, such as Vienna or Singapore , where you can own a home regardless of your income level .
How? In Singapore, the state controls the land and more than 85% of the houses are rented out on a long-term basis; they are not privately owned . In Vienna, very large sections of housing are owned by cooperatives.
So land price control is key to ensuring affordable housing . And in too many countries that doesn't exist.
-What would you say to those who believe that what you propose is contrary to the basic principles of the free market, which is the engine of capitalism, and could increase the size of government and bureaucracy?
- There is a risk of that happening. These are legitimate criticisms or concerns. On the other hand, Singapore is the most hyper-capitalist city in the world and can treat land not as a private commodity but as something more publicly controlled , maintaining an extremely successful capitalist system.
Why can't other countries do it?
house for saleAndy Dean Photography - Shutterstock
- So what is the first thing countries and governments should do to improve people's access to adequate housing and reverse the crisis?
-It depends on the nature of the crisis, but in general countries should start treating housing as a human right , legally protecting that right, making it difficult to evict tenants, especially .
And in the medium and long term, lay the foundations for greater control over the price of land , for example by exploring land pooling agreements or promoting housing cooperative agreements.
Could you mention any country in America as a model for these policies?
- In America, Brazil has done the most to explore at least the essential policy measures . For example, the Brazilian Constitution articulates the right to property as something that has a social function, not just as an economic asset. This is a very important recognition and some court rulings have offered very interesting conclusions based on that.
And in Brazil there are laws that allow for the redistribution of land . In fact, there is a state agency responsible for distributing land that is not being used properly.
There is also a city statute that discourages speculative ownership of land and urban property, and has instruments to intervene in housing markets.
So from a political and legal perspective, Brazil is, along with Colombia, a Latin American country that offers good lessons on how governments can treat housing as a human right.
I must say that in practice Brazil has failed to guarantee full protection of the right to adequate housing. It has lagged behind in many aspects, in the number of people with inadequate housing, in informal settlements and evictions, including those living in the Amazon and often with extreme violence.
But at least countries like Brazil show what is possible to do legally and from a political perspective . And its current government intends to do the right thing to achieve the goals that its own legal system sets.
www.buysellba.com
Source:
El motivo detrás de la falta de vivienda en el mundo: “Más de 3000 millones de personas podrían no tener hogar”
Un especialista de las Naciones Unidas señala varios motivos detrás de la falta de viviendas, pero también sugiere soluciones
www.lanacion.com.ar
October 21, 2024
UN expert points to several reasons behind homelessness, but also suggests solutions
By Gerardo Lissardy
According to official data, nearly one in five inhabitants of the planet lives without an adequate home.
The number of homeless people , which is increasing in several countries , from Chile to Spain and the United States, is the tip of the iceberg of what the United Nations special rapporteur on adequate housing describes as a “massive crisis” on a global scale .
“While we talk about artificial intelligence, settling on Mars and other unattainable ideas, we forget that a large part of humanity lacks access to basic things like housing ,” says Balakrishnan Rajagopal in an interview with BBC Mundo.
According to estimates, nearly one in five people on the planet lives without adequate housing, despite this being a human right, and the figure could exceed 3 billion people in a few years.
A lawyer and professor of law and development at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in the United States, Rajagopal points to several reasons behind the phenomenon. But he also suggests solutions such as: protecting tenants more from evictions and argues that, despite the “perpetual shortage” of housing in Latin America, some countries in the region offer examples to take into account.
The following is a summary of the telephone conversation between BBC Mundo and this international expert who has investigated issues such as displacement, land rights and evictions .
Is the world experiencing a housing crisis?
-Yes, the world experienced and is experiencing a massive housing crisis with different dimensions .
We have a crisis of affordable housing , of forced displacement, of criminalization of homeless populations and we also have a crisis in providing adequate housing for those displaced by climate change .
When people are displaced and lose their homes , they wander from place to place without proper resettlement and fall deeper into poverty and hopelessness .
This is creating secondary and tertiary crises.
Rajagopal argues that rather than recognizing housing as a human right, governments often treat it as a commodity. Getty Images
- Can you give figures?
-We estimate that around 1.6 billion people lack adequate housing worldwide . If current trends continue, this figure could double by 2030.
There are more than 110 million forcibly displaced people .
These numbers have grown due to the increase in conflicts around the world that are forcing people to flee their homes . We saw this in Syria, Ukraine, Gaza and Palestine. We also saw people fleeing their homes due to economic or political crises such as the one in Venezuela, which produced a large number of migrants.
Those displaced by climate change could rise sharply as they begin to cross into other countries if ocean levels rise ever faster and desertification, rainfall, flooding and fires increase. We have seen this trend from the US to Australia, Europe, Latin America and countries in Asia.
Regarding the affordable housing crisis , more and more people around the world are unable to afford a decent home . We estimate that the number is over 100 million people and growing significantly.
-Is the figure of 1.6 billion people without adequate shelter and basic services unprecedented in history?
- It is fair to say that it is unprecedented because of the nature of the problem. Inadequate housing was not considered a problematic condition by human beings for a long time. It is rather about recognizing decent housing as something worth defending.
Furthermore, as we have seen in Latin America , the number of people living in urban areas increased and in the 1960s exceeded the capacity of countries to provide adequate housing.
This is how large informal settlements , known as slums, have emerged, especially in developing countries. And those living in most of these settlements still lack adequate housing .
- Are there Latin American countries that concern you more?
I am very concerned about the impact of displacement caused by political crises or conflicts in the region , including Venezuela.
I am very concerned about the impact of climate change in countries in the region, including Central America. In countries like El Salvador or Guatemala, the impacts are very strong.
We see a combination of the impact of Covid-related measures, inflation and a growing lack of access to housing due to a perpetual housing shortage in countries in the region.
All this means that there is a real economic and social crisis in the region , because the biggest expense in a person's life is housing .
So it is very important that housing prices and affordability are in order . Otherwise, most people will feel vulnerable and can easily fall into crisis. And it is very difficult to get them out of the crisis.
People living on the streets: an increasingly common image in different cities
-And what is the situation in the US, the world's largest economy?
There is a very serious crisis , with more than 650,000 homeless people in the US, counting only those who sleep on the streets and in shelters. If we adopt the definition that is gaining more and more acceptance in Europe, we would perhaps be talking about double that number.
This has become a political issue in the current elections , with one party arguing that the homeless crisis can be solved with extremely violent measures, with threats to deport the homeless from the cities and put them in what appear to be concentration camps, something alarming, dangerous and contrary to human rights .
The root of the homelessness crisis in the U.S. is that they can't build housing fast enough . And what they have isn't affordable for most people because of rules governing who can access it, administered by communities in a way that keeps out those they consider undesirable.
The answer is to say that we are going to put homeless people in jail or impose sanctions on them . The recent Supreme Court decision in the Grants Pass, Oregon, case gives the green light to this approach.
So more and more cities and even state governments are taking this very dangerous position . Other approaches that work are not considered.
People are losing their homes because rents keep going up , and when they can't afford to pay, they are evicted. This disproportionately affects minorities, people of color, women, and children. It should be one of the most important public policy challenges for any government . But that's not happening yet.
-Do you see anything similar in Europe?
-I see similar trends in most European countries . I was recently in Northern Ireland, where there is a huge underlying crisis of affordable housing, homelessness because of that, a failure to invest in building housing and a growing demonisation of homeless people.
I also saw this in the Netherlands, where some political parties blame migrants, particularly non-Western migrants, for the crisis, which is inaccurate and unfair.
The housing crisis there is due to wrong policies . But it was easier for politicians to say that it is due to migrants. Even instead of pointing the finger at Ukrainians who are arriving in the country in greater numbers, they pointed the finger at those coming from countries in the global south, for example Syrians or Afghans, because it is always convenient to blame someone who doesn’t look like you .
- What you say is shocking: in an era of increasing consumerism, access to goods and technology that was unimaginable a long time ago, more and more people have difficulty accessing basic services and adequate housing, a fundamental human right…
- Exactly. It's almost as if the trees hide the forest. Because while we talk about artificial intelligence, settling on Mars and other unattainable ideas, we forget that a large part of humanity lacks access to basic things like housing , food, clean water or sanitation.
And we're not doing a good job of addressing those problems.
Homelessness crisis has become an election issue in the US, with one party calling for "extremely violent measures," says Rajagopal
- You say that this is a political problem. Does the responsibility lie with governments?
- Yes, because governments have not recognised important things like housing, food, water and sanitation as human rights . Instead, they have treated them as commodities that are bought and sold like any other good on the market.
Housing is a human right . And unfortunately, that market paradigm of housing was too dominant in country after country. Housing finance, which is the tendency to treat housing as a financial asset, is one of the root causes of the housing crisis.
Countries should change their attitude and ensure that housing is protected as a human right. This means giving it at least the same status as other rights that underpin a market economy, such as the right to private property, which is better protected in many countries.
It should come as no surprise that housing is becoming less and less available to people , because it is treated as a commodity .
- Is the financing problem political or can it also be attributed to banks and other financial institutions?
- It is fundamentally a political problem , because financing is an issue that can be regulated and its negative consequences are due to a lack of regulation.
The problem is the unregulated nature of financial flows and the dominance of financial institutions to make decisions in their own interest, which in reality does not reflect the general interest of society. That is why strong regulation is necessary .
We don't even have an international treaty regulating financial flows. It's terrible that there are billions of dollars in circulation and there is no way to regulate them at a global level.
It all depends on the governments of large hegemonic states and especially the United States, because all financial transactions ultimately pass through their financial system.
In effect, the US functions as the global financial regulator . The rest of the world pays a price for this hegemony . It is unacceptable.
- Many people blame online platforms like Airbnb or Booking for the rising housing costs in different cities. What is the real impact of these platforms on the housing affordability crisis?
- Platforms can make a crisis worse once it exists, but they cannot create it .
When platforms enter a market with a shortage of affordable housing, they take many homes off the housing market and hold them for short-term rentals. That exacerbates the existing crisis. And people wrongly conclude that platforms are the reason for the crisis .
But in nine out of ten cases, the affordable housing crisis is due to structural problems .
One is the lack of control over the price of land, which is the most expensive part of building a house. If the government does not control the price of land , it cannot ensure affordable housing .
In San Diego, California, more than 70% of land is sold to private individuals. Compare that to wealthy cities without an affordable housing crisis, such as Vienna or Singapore , where you can own a home regardless of your income level .
How? In Singapore, the state controls the land and more than 85% of the houses are rented out on a long-term basis; they are not privately owned . In Vienna, very large sections of housing are owned by cooperatives.
So land price control is key to ensuring affordable housing . And in too many countries that doesn't exist.
-What would you say to those who believe that what you propose is contrary to the basic principles of the free market, which is the engine of capitalism, and could increase the size of government and bureaucracy?
- There is a risk of that happening. These are legitimate criticisms or concerns. On the other hand, Singapore is the most hyper-capitalist city in the world and can treat land not as a private commodity but as something more publicly controlled , maintaining an extremely successful capitalist system.
Why can't other countries do it?
house for saleAndy Dean Photography - Shutterstock
- So what is the first thing countries and governments should do to improve people's access to adequate housing and reverse the crisis?
-It depends on the nature of the crisis, but in general countries should start treating housing as a human right , legally protecting that right, making it difficult to evict tenants, especially .
And in the medium and long term, lay the foundations for greater control over the price of land , for example by exploring land pooling agreements or promoting housing cooperative agreements.
Could you mention any country in America as a model for these policies?
- In America, Brazil has done the most to explore at least the essential policy measures . For example, the Brazilian Constitution articulates the right to property as something that has a social function, not just as an economic asset. This is a very important recognition and some court rulings have offered very interesting conclusions based on that.
And in Brazil there are laws that allow for the redistribution of land . In fact, there is a state agency responsible for distributing land that is not being used properly.
There is also a city statute that discourages speculative ownership of land and urban property, and has instruments to intervene in housing markets.
So from a political and legal perspective, Brazil is, along with Colombia, a Latin American country that offers good lessons on how governments can treat housing as a human right.
I must say that in practice Brazil has failed to guarantee full protection of the right to adequate housing. It has lagged behind in many aspects, in the number of people with inadequate housing, in informal settlements and evictions, including those living in the Amazon and often with extreme violence.
But at least countries like Brazil show what is possible to do legally and from a political perspective . And its current government intends to do the right thing to achieve the goals that its own legal system sets.
www.buysellba.com
