Fitzpatrick, Suzanne

Watts, Beth

English

FEANTSA has a longstanding commitment to ‘a rights-based’ approach to tackling homelessness, and this commitment is shared by many working in the homelessness field. Rights-based approaches are intuitively appealing, promising radical solutions to complex issues of housing need and social exclusion. But what precisely do we mean by rights-based approaches, and do they deliver the things we expect them to in practice? This chapter considers the relevance of the centuries-old debate about the existence or otherwise of the ‘natural rights’ of human beings, before moving on to consider the applicability of universal ‘human rights’ in the housing and homelessness field. Within the national realm, ‘programmatic’ citizenship rights, as well as positive legal rights that are ‘enforceable’ by individual citizens in domestic courts, are critically scrutinised with respect to their efficacy in tackling homelessness. The chapter concludes that, while the notion of rights as ‘absolute’ can sometimes tend to close down debate, it is crucial to maintain a critical perspective on rights discourses within the homelessness field on both philosophical and pragmatic ground

Heriot Watt Pure

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The 'Right to Housing' for Homeless People

The 'Right to Housing' for Homeless People

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Heriot Watt Pure

Heriot Watt Pure