UN expert 'shocked' by homelessness in Dublin

The United Nations expert on housing was shocked by the extent of homelessness in Dublin and warned against property speculation driving the Irish economy.

Miloon Kothari, the Special Rapporteur on Adequate Housing of the UN Commission on Human Rights walked through the centre of Dublin on the evening of Friday, 9 December. He came across a man selling the Big Issues magazine outside Trinity College and got into conversation with him. The man told him he was homeless and spoke of others who were homeless, whey they were homeless and where they spent nights.

Later that evening, Miloon Kothari saw other homeless people around the city.

He said later in an interview: "I was quite shocked to find such a degree of homelessness here. There is no excuse for homelessness when there is such wealth. There are arguments about the justicibility of a right to housing but, in a sense that may be irrelevant, when there is someone who desperately needs a home now. Ireland signed up in 2002 to a commitment to provide adequate housing in the UN Convention on Economic and Cultural Rights but the commitments there have not been implemented. In its own anti-poverty strategy commitments on housing were made which also have not been met".

He said he was surprised there was no legislation there to control speculation in land and property. "The market has assumed a sacrosanct role here and in many countries", he said. "But the market has put housing beyond the reach of not just the poor but many in the middle class as well".

He said that in many countries now, notably in the US and Canada, there was now not just the neglect of the poor, but an assault on the poor. Subsidies were being withdrawn, affirmative action was being ended, for instance women who were homeless had their children taken from them, policies of "zero tolerance" criminalised the poor very often.

He said: "We are facing a global system where land has become very valuable and where property speculation is driving economies. Social protection systems have failed to keep up. In the EU investors can invest in property anywhere and this is driving up prices and causing huge social dislocation".

In some countries judges have found there was a "right" to housing, deriving from a "right to life". He said this was the case in India where in the 1960s the High Court decided such in a number of cases and this had happened also in South Africa and Canada. However, in recent years, there has been a judicial retreat from this position. "Judges are part of the elite in this new neo-liberal new world order and they have reversed previous decisions by their courts in favour of housing rights and other economic and social rights. Judges of the new era are keen to protect property rights over socio-economic rights".

At a conference on housing organised by the Commission on Human Rights on the weekend of 10 December, Miloon Kothari spoke of the failures of the post-tsunami relief efforts in two of the regions most affected by the disaster of almost a year ago. According to a report on the relief efforts in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu and the country of Sri Lanka, "Relief and rehabilitation processes across Tamil Nadu and Sri Lanka have been carried out with glaring disregard for the human rights of all survivors". It said: "Women suffered the greatest brunt of the tsunami disaster, but relief and rehabilitation policies, instead of addressing their concerns, often served to increase discrimination against them... Furthermore, violence against women was a common complaint at many (relief) sites".

It stated: "Government efforts in Tamil Nadu and Sri Lanka seemed focused towards rebuilding infrastructure, rather than on restoring people's lives and livelihoods... Hunger and malnutrition were severe among many survivors. Poor health conditions were rampant in almost all temporary housing sites".

Miloon Kothari said it was essential the mistakes of this relief effort were not replicated in the relief effort currently underway following the earthquake in Pakistan earlier this year.

Vincent Browne