FEANTSA and Housing Rights

1. FEANTSA and Housing Rights European Federation of National Organisations Working with the Homeless Istanbul Bilgi University, 14 April 2007

2. What is FEANTSA? • « La Féderation Européenne des Associations Nationales Travaillant avec les Sans-Abri » (FEANTSA) • A Federation of over 100 organisations working with homeless people – mostly umbrellas of service providers • Established in 1989 – started on the initiative of national organisations • Core-funded by the European Commission

3. FEANTSA Mission • To be/create the most effective means of ending homelessness in the EU

4. Structure • General Assembly (Membership) • Administrative Council • Secretariat • Research Observatory

5. FEANTSA’s Work • Transnational exchange and networking among FEANTSA’s members and other stakeholders • Research: European Observatory on Homelessness • Lobbying and policy work at European and national level

6. Transnational Exchanges • Working groups on data collection (ETHOS), employment, health and social protection, housing, the right to housing and participation. • FEANTSA annual theme and conference • Ongoing consultations on topical issues – usually by questionnaire. • Staff exchange programme – developing

7. Housing and Housing Rights WG Recent work on the following issues: • Social housing as a SGI, • EU State Aid rules and social housing, • mobility and deregulation of housing markets, • sustainable communities, • social mix, • housing rights and human rights, • discrimination and the right to housing, • etc.

8. Work on Housing Rights • Expert Group on Housing Rights • Bringing the Rights perspective within FEANTSA’s work • Publication of Housing Rights and Human Rights (2005) • Co-organisation of a Conference in Helsinki, Finland (2006) • Database • Collective complaint against France

9. Annual Theme and Conference • European Report - consultation of all members • EU-wide picture • Annual Conference • If useful, policy actions built up around the results of the research. • Themes: • 2006 -  ”The Right to Health is a Human Right: Ensuring Access to Health for homeless people” • 2007 – “Multiple barriers, multiple solutions: Inclusion into and through employment for people who are homeless in Europe” • 2008 – Housing and Homelessness

10. Lobbying and Policy work • FEANTSA’s knowledge and expertise is drawn directly from its members and its research • FEANTSA uses this input to lobby at European level • FEANTSA empowers and supports its members to lobby at national level

11. Working at European level • Housing is no EU competence • Increasingly, EU policy-making impacts on a range of areas related to homelessness • Useful to distinguish between: • Hard Policy • Soft Policy

12. EU impact: Hard policy • EU State aid & competition rules • Free movement of persons • Asylum • Environmental legislation • Public procurement • Gender equality and Anti-discrimination

13. EU impact: Soft policy • European Employment strategy • Community Action Programme on Public Health • Social protection and social inclusion strategy • Main framework for EU policy making on homelessness • Aim: Improve homeless policy-making through working towards common objectives and mutual learning/comparison between different countries

14. Homelessness on the EU agenda • Clear change in the importance attached to homelessness • from homelessness and housing as urgent policy issues for some Member States (1st Joint Inclusion Report 2001), • for most Member States (2nd Joint Inclusion report 2004), • for all new Member States (Report on NAPsIncl of new Member States 2005), • to homelessness as one of the 6 key priorities for all 25 Member States (1st Joint Report Social Protection & Social Inclusion 2005) • EPSCO Council of March 2005 outlined priorities for the social inclusion process – including “treatment of the phenomenon of homelessness”

15. Impact of EU transnational exchanges • EU transnational exchanges have been useful for awareness-raising on homelessness • Changing perception of homelessness • ETHOS – European Typology on Homelessness and housing exclusion • Need for integrated approach to combat homelessness • Change in intervention strategies to tackle homelessness – from emergency, to prevention and reintegration

16. Other relevant stakeholders/areas • Working with public authorities • Setting up a European Forum to combat homelessness • Housing rights at EU level – further developments? • Using International instruments to advocate for housing rights

17. Working with public authorities • In the past, statutory obligations to fight homelessness were rare • Growing recognition of the problem: most EU countries have developed a strategy in recent decades or, sometimes, recent years • They look to the EU for expertise and mutual learning. FEANTSA is often approached and its research used. • To improve and facilitate this process: European Forum to Combat Homelessness

18. A European Forum to Combat Homelessness • Context: In the streamlined OMC there is a strong focus on policy development • March 2005 EPSCO Council makes a priority of the “treatment of the phenomenon of homelessness” • Draw together relevant actors and stakeholders, including public authorities at all levels, but also health boards, housing associations, etc. • Step by step approach; fully operational by 2010. • Present focus is on local authorities.

19. EU level – housing rights • Article 34 (3) of the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union recognises and respects the right to social and housing assistance. • Creation of a Fundamental Rights Agency – new opportunities?

20. Housing Rights: international tools • The United Nations • The Council of Europe

21. United Nations level • Universal Declaration of Human Rights (1948) • Article 25 (1) states: "Everyone has the right to a standard of living adequate for the health and well-being of himself and of his family, including food, clothing, housing and medical care and necessary social services, and the right to security in the event of unemployment, sickness, disability, widowhood, old age or other lack of livelihood in circumstances beyond his control." • International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (1966) • Article 11 (1) - most comprehensive and important provision relevant to housing - it states: • "The States Parties to the present Covenant recognize the right of everyone to an adequate standard of living for himself and his family, including adequate food, clothing and housing, and to the continuous improvement of living conditions. The States Parties will take appropriate steps to ensure the realization of this right, recognizing to this effect the essential importance of international cooperation based on free consent.“ • General Comments 4 and 7 • State obligations under ICESCR • Other relevant UN Instruments • Special Rapporteur on Adequate Housing

22. Council of Europe level • The European Convention for the Protection of Human Rightsand Fundamental Freedoms • and the European Court of Human Rights (individual complaint mechanism) • Right to housing not explicitly included in the Convention, but enshrined in numerous concrete legal norms. The judgments with reference to adequate living conditions and respect for home clarify state obligations and accountability in the field of housing. Several articles are relevant to the fight against homelessness. • European Social Charter (1961) and Revised European Social Charter (1996) • Art 31: the right to housing • “With a view to ensuring the effective exercise of the right to housing, the Parties undertake to take measures designed to: • 1 to promote access to housing of an adequate standard; • 2 to prevent and reduce homelessness with a view to its gradual elimination • 3 to make the price of housing accessible to those without adequate resources”. • Reports mechanism • Collective complaints mechanism (Additional Protocol of 1995) • FEANTSA v. France

23. To find out more… • Visit our website: www.feantsa.org