Pittsburgh Human Rights Housing Strategy
Pittsburgh Human Rights Housing Strategy
In April 2022, Pittsburgh welcomed global housing expert, former UN Special Rapporteur on the Human Right to Adequate Housing, Leilani Farha to meet with city officials, housing advocates, students and other residents. Her conversations here generated a set of recommendations for how we can work to improve access to affordable housing in Pittsburgh and ward off new threats to existing affordable housing. We compiled this report on the visit, highlighting insights and recommendations from our discussions with Ms. Farha, who now leads global housing rights organization, The Shift. Here you’ll also find helpful links to learning resources and legal tools to help advance housing as a human right. (Download report PDF)
Resources for developing a rights-based housing strategy
- A rights-based housing strategy must include a comprehensive fair housing audit of housing needs, existing infrastructure, and property ownership.
- The Shift Directives on Financialization and Human Rights (June 2022) The first-ever comprehensive framework providing governments and investors with guidance to effectively address the financialization of housing in accordance with human rights law.
- Guidelines for the implementation of the right to adequate housing (UN Special Rapporteur on adequate housing, 2019 [A/HRC/43/43])
- Existing models of municipal human rights-based housing strategies The full text of the guidelines is available in all six UN languages here.
