Ms Leilani Farha:

I thank the Chairman. It is a distinct pleasure to be here. I am the UN special rapporteur on the right to housing. I was appointed in 2014 by the UN Human Rights Council to serve as a global monitor on housing conditions and state obligations in this regard. I am visiting Ireland on an academic visit, not an official mission, so I am not here to assess the implementation of the right to housing in your domestic context. Instead, I hope I might be able to offer a useful point of view based on my work and experience in light of Ireland's not insignificant housing issues. In my short time here, I have learned homelessness is on the increase - up an alarming 27%, at least, in the last year - there is paucity of social housing, and large financial actors that are profit driven are playing a dominant role in the housing market. At the same time, the Parliament recently voted down the inclusion of the right to housing as an enumerated right in the Constitution. The right to housing is not included in Rebuilding Ireland. Ireland has a reservation on housing rights provisions in the European Social Charter and it has yet to ratify the optional protocol to the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights.

When I am confronted with housing situations like these, I am concerned that a state's international human rights obligations may not be met or engaged and that commitments made with respect to housing under the sustainable development goals will not be achieved. As members may know, target 11.1 of goal 11 of the sustainable development goals commits states to ensuring access for all to adequate, safe and affordable housing and basic services by 2030, which also means ending homelessness within this timeframe.

The best way forward for Ireland to address the housing crisis and meet its international human rights commitments and obligations is to adopt a human rights-based housing strategy or a national action plan that recognises and implements housing as a human right. Why are human rights so essential to housing strategies? Homelessness and grossly inadequate or unaffordable housing are an assault on dignity and life and go to the heart of what triggers, or what should trigger, human rights concern. Human rights violations of this nature demand human rights responses. Human rights demand that governments interact with people who are homeless and inadequately housed as rights holders empowered to engage and be involved in decisions affecting their lives. A rights-based approach clarifies who is accountable to whom: all levels of government are accountable to people, particularly marginalised and vulnerable groups. Human rights incorporate universal norms that bring coherence and co-ordination to multiple areas of law and policy through a common purpose and a shared set of values.

My most recent report focuses on the core principles that should inform a human-rights-based housing strategy. Let me describe a few of them. First, housing strategies must be based in law and affirm the right to housing as a legal right.

This does not necessarily mean constitutional provisions, although it could. Equally, it could be a legislated right to housing, such as measures enshrined in some other jurisdictions. Strategies must prioritise those most in need and must make an absolute priority of eliminating homelessness and addressing the needs of those in the most desperate circumstances. Strategies must adopt a comprehensive and whole-of-government approach. They must co-ordinate and guide the work of multiple Departments or Ministries, as well as multiple layers of government. Strategies must ensure accountable budgeting and tax justice as a means for states to discourage speculation and encourage affordable housing. Strategies must put in place independent institutional mechanisms to monitor progress and hold Governments accountable to goals and timelines. They must also ensure access to justice, including access to hearings and remedies for violations. Finally, strategies must clarify the obligations of private actors. The obligation to realise the right to housing lies with states and cannot be delegated to private actors. Housing strategies will not be effective if they fail to engage the dominant role played by financial markets and investors. Strategies must include robust measures to reorient private investment and development to ensure inclusive cities and affordable housing.

I encourage the committee to take bold and swift measures to urgently address homelessness as an egregious human rights violation. It is no different from any other violation of the right to life and the security of the person. In my short time here I saw and spoke with too many people living in deep hardship. I know Ireland can do better than this, and it must. I would be happy to answer any questions committee members may have.