The United Nations has backed calls to make housing a constitutional right in Ireland. Leilani Farha, the UN’s special rapporteur for adequate housing, said a good starting point to tackle the country’s housing and homelessness crisis is “to either constitutionalise the right to housing or failing that, legislate the right to housing”. Ms Farha said what is unfolding in terms of Ireland’s housing crisis is tragic and serious but solvable because of its small population. Housing was the issue of “our times right now”, with homelessness considered a gross violation of human rights but on the rise “virtually everywhere”. “A right to housing would provide a ‘floor’ in respect of access to adequate housing for all, obliging the state to reasonably protect and fulfil that right,” she said.

Source: The Irish Times June 11, 2018 17:34 UTC