Winter 2006 » November 22, 2006

The Case for a Right to Housing

While the Constitution of the United States ensures citizens many rights, housing is not one of them - although such a right has been advocated for many years. _Shelterforce_ asked Chester Hartman and Rachel G. Bratt (co-editors of A Right To Housing, with Michael E. Stone) to discuss this notion of a "right to housing." Hartman, answering a series of questions, puts it into the context of other rights Americans expect. Bratt explains how a right to housing can advance the work of CDCs. By Chester Hartman

The concept and reality of rights is, of course, an evolving drama, one that has played out in our nation’s history. The right of slaves to be free of bondage was won via armed struggle and political action that produced amendments to our Constitution. The right of women to vote has a similar, albeit less violent, history. Workers won the right to organize, a right that was codified by federal legislation. The Civil Rights movement produced a set of legal rights that did not previously exist and changed profoundly public culture and practices with regard to race.

Common to this evolution of rights was an appeal to this nation’s higher sense of justice, to the fundamental principles of democracy and to the protections embodied in the foundational documents of this country. Also common was political struggle, buttressed by intellectual support.

Entitlements, on the other hand, is a somewhat different, albeit related concept, having more to do with specific programs, such as Social Security, the Earned Income Tax Credit, food stamps, Medicaid/Medicare, school breakfasts and lunches, Supplementary Security Income and, of course, free K-12 public education.

How have housing rights evolved in the United States?

Some specific, although quite limited, rights/ entitlements exist in the housing area. Local housing codes (varying enormously with respect to coverage and standards) provide something of a right to decent physical conditions. But enforcement is a problem and market realities limit the benefits these regulations offer.

A warranty of habitability and rent-withholding provisions exist in some jurisdictions. While this levels the playing field somewhat between landlord and tenant, it falls short of guaranteeing decent housing conditions and, as is true of housing codes, does not deal with the key issue of affordability. In those few areas that still have rent control, limits are placed on rent increases.

Federal, state and local laws bar discrimination on the basis of race, ethnicity, disability and other personal characteristics, as well as source of income. But again, enforcement is far less than ideal, and more subtle forms of residential discrimination are hard to detect and prove.

Due process must be followed in eviction and foreclosure proceedings. Relatedly, some jurisdictions provide protection to tenants against condominium conversions and demolitions. In a few areas, “just (good) cause” eviction statutes limit eviction to stipulated reasons.

Tenants in public and Section 8 housing are required to pay no more than 30 percent of their income as rent. In a few areas, by statute or litigation, homeless persons have a right to shelter (not to be confused with housing), and for the homeless there also exists, again in just a few areas, what might be labeled “a right not to freeze to death”: ordinances requiring that public buildings be opened to homeless persons when the temperature dips below a certain level.

And, as is constantly pointed out by low-income housing advocates, while there is no entitlement to a Section 8 certificate or a public housing unit, all homeowners are entitled to the most massive, albeit indirect, housing subsidy of all – the ability to deduct every dollar paid in property taxes and virtually all dollars paid in mortgage interest from their taxable income base, providing a huge and highly regressive housing subsidy to those who need it least. (Other provisions of our tax laws as they affect homeowners add to this disparity.)

So, our society has lots of rights and entitlements, with some limited kinds of rights in the housing area, but we’re way shy of a right to decent, affordable housing for all.

What steps have been taken to provide decent, affordable housing?

The nation has, of course, made great progress in the housing area – one would be foolish not to recognize the reduction, for example, in slum housing and severe overcrowding over the past few decades. However, affordability problems have risen and now occupy first place in that sad contest. And the elimination or destruction of poor housing, via the urban renewal/highway programs and private market forces, has been achieved at the cost of massive disruption in people’s lives and the growing gap between what people can afford to pay and the availability of housing units within their means.

In the Preamble to the 1949 Housing Act, Congress asserted the National Housing Goal, which called for “the implementation as soon as feasible of a decent home and a suitable living environment for every American family.” (Affordability was not mentioned, as slum housing conditions were the nation’s primary, most visible housing problem in the post-war period.) That goal was reiterated in the 1968 Housing Act, and in slightly different versions in the 1974 and 1990 Housing Acts.

Congress has never followed up with the programs or provided resources to attain that goal. Nor have statutory declarations provided the basis for litigation to compel allocation of the needed resources. The 1968 Act took the brave step of setting forth a 10-year numerical target – 26 million units (6 million of which were for low- and moderate-income households) – and mandating year-by-year progress reports. But the effort failed by a considerable margin, and never again was Congress foolish enough to risk such embarrassment.

By contrast, in the health and education areas, the nation has at least set specific goals and timetables – a good first step. In the mid-1990s the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services laid out specific health objectives to be achieved by the end of the century. After reporting some progress, the Department launched “Healthy People 2010,” with updated goals. In the education area, Congress passed in 1994 the Goals 2000: Educate America Act, which identified eight national educational goals pertaining to school readiness and completion, student achievement and citizenship, teacher education and professional development, and parental participation. It also called for the high school graduation rate to increase to at least 90 percent by the year 2000, a dramatic reduction in the dropout rate and the elimination of the gaps in high school graduation rates between students from minority backgrounds and their non-minority counterparts. And of course, more recently, the No Child Left Behind Act, while controversial, has set specific goals in the education area.

Nothing even remotely comparable exists in the area of housing, save a commitment by some states and localities to 10-year plans to end homelessness – a worthy goal, to be sure, but light-years away from a Right to Decent, Affordable Housing.

Why should we have such a right?

The arguments for a Right to Housing are straightforward: Housing is where people spend the most time, where family life is nurtured, so it should be safe, comfortable, supportive. Housing costs are, for most households, the largest expenditure and so should not be so high as to prevent meeting other basic needs – food, clothing, medical care, transportation, etc.

Housing is more than four walls and a roof: It is part of a neighborhood and community, providing opportunities for positive social interaction and safety from crime. Housing location affects access to quality schools, jobs and community services.

The societal costs – added health services to deal with housing-linked problems such as asthma, lead poisoning, rat bites, asphyxiation, communicable diseases; emergency fire and police services; crime and incarceration; services for the homeless; and so on – of not having decent, affordable housing for all are enormous and growing. A true cost-benefit analysis might show that not having a Right to Housing is far more costly, in economic terms alone, than not implementing such a right.

There is a great deal of support for having a Right to Housing. The U.S. Catholic Bishops, the Massachusetts Episcopal Diocese and the American Baptist Churches are a few of the faith-based sources. The National Association of Social Workers is representative of support from relevant professional groups. Many United Nations documents, as well as the laws of a great many other countries, advocate for and assert such a right. There is no shortage of authoritative, compelling pleadings.

What would be the first step in creating a Right to Housing?

Were we to accept, politically, the need to establish a Right to Housing, we then would have to fill in the details as to the content of that right. While we’re not at that point, and all our energies should focus on achieving the principle and acceptance that there should be a Right to Housing, it is useful at least to list what elements need to be considered.