Housing dignity: for the right to housing in the new constitution | Seminar and publication are available!

This 05 November 2020, the Global Initiative for Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (GI-ESCR), TECHO-Chile and Fundación Vivienda launched their joint report in a seminar on housing dignity, examining the possibilities of incorporating the right to housing in the new Chilean constitution. Over 100 people, including experts and local communities’ representatives, attended the event.

On the aftermath of the referendum on the new Constitution, which Chileans massively approved, this work contributes to the debate on how to elaborate a new social pact that organizes and distributes power, and guarantees human rights for all, including the right to housing.

The analysis is based on the main urban and housing challenges identified by communities themselves, on international human rights standards and on the comparative examination of other constitutions.

It notably analyses the following dimensions around the right to housing:

The main challenges that Chile faces in the field of housing
Housing in international law
The absence of the right to housing in the 1980’s Chilean Constitution.
The right to housing in other constitutions of the world
Specific proposals for the incorporation of the right to housing in the New Constitution

Magdalena Sepúlveda Carmona, Executive Director of GI-ESCR highlighted the contribution that this work aims to make in the constituent debate in Chile:

“This report comes to unseat this myth that they have made us believe, that the right to housing means that the State must grant a house to whoever asks for it and that anyone could come before a judge to ask for a home. Actually, when we talk about the right to housing, we are referring rather to issues such as legal security in tenure, the availability of services, accessibility, the location, and the adequacy of housing. Very different issues we need to address. ”

Sebastián Bowen, Executive Director of TECHO-Chile and Fundación Vivienda, underlined the symbolic importance of recognizing the right to housing:

"Recognizing and guaranteeing the right to housing and the city is nothing more than recognizing the right to life, the right to live in peace, the right to live in a community."

Paulina Saball, former Minister of Housing and Urban Planning of Chile (2014-2018) explained how the current constitutional order has generated in the country an institutional framework that does not protect the right to housing:

“Housing, health and education have been three public policies that have deepened the inequalities. We have dealt with the three of them from an approach in which the State subsidizes those who have the least, focuses extraordinarily on the most disadvantaged groups, does not regulate the entire sector, and leaves the resolution of problems to the market and competition. In the case of housing, this implies a concept of individuals who seek to ensure the right to their own home, not the right to live safely ”.

Christian Curtis, lawyer and United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights official, emphasized the need to have a broad conception of the right to housing in the constitutional debate:

“The right to adequate housing means access to services. That in turn opens the question about to what extent does one recognize that access to basic services is also a right. There is a work on this matter, expressed in some constitutions of the region, that have consecrated the right to water and sewerage as a human right ”.

Stephanie Hurtado, community leader in La Pintana, Santiago, also highlighted the importance of bringing other rights related to housing into the discussion:

"There is a hidden life that goes beyond having a house, a roof and making a family within those four walls. There is a hidden life that is important, that has to do with what I do when I arrive after work. So, does the house I live in have the spaces that allow me to take the bike and ride, or take the shoes and run, have activities with my children, have access to the culture? All these topics have to do with other rights that are very intertwined and connected with the right to have a home."

Speakers:

Sebastián Bowen, executive director of Techo-Chile y Fundación Vivienda
Magdalena Sepúlveda Carmona, GI-ESCR's Executive Director

Panelists:

Paulina Saball, former Chilean Ministry of Housing (2014-2018)
Stephanie Hurtado, social leader at Villa El Bosque, Santiago de Chile.
Christian Courtis, lawyer and officer in the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (UN Human Rights)

Chair:

Pía Palacios, director of the Centre for Socio-Territorial Studies (CES) of Techo-Chile and Fundación Vivienda.