Special Rapporteur on the right to adequate housing

Special Rapporteur on adequate housing as a component of the right to an adequate standard of living, and on the right to non-discrimination in this context

Purpose of the mandate

The right to adequate housing is more than having a roof over one’s head, it is the right to live in safety and dignity in a decent home.

Not all people are able to enjoy this right. Over one billion people live in substandard housing and informal settlements. Every year, several million people lose their home and are displaced as a consequence of development projects, conflicts, natural disasters or the climate crisis. Many of them are subjected to forced evictions. Housing has increasingly been treated as an opportunity for investment, not as a social good and fundamental human right.

This mandate was created to:

• promote the full realization of adequate housing as a component of the right to an adequate standard of living;
• identify practical solutions, best practices, challenges, obstacles and protection gaps in relation to the right to adequate housing; and
• identify gender-specific vulnerabilities in relation to the right to adequate housing and land.

Read more about the human right to adequate housing

About the mandate

The mandate of the Special Rapporteur on the right to adequate housing was established in the year 2000 by the former Commission on Human Rights (resolution 2000/9). It was most recently renewed in 2023 by Human Rights Council resolution 52/10. Learn more about the mandate.

Current mandate holder

Mr. Balakrishnan Rajagopal, assumed his function as Special Rapporteur on the right to adequate housing on 1 May 2020. He is Professor of Law and Development at the Department of Urban Studies and Planning at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). A lawyer by training, he is an expert on many areas of human rights, including economic, social and cultural rights, the UN system, and the human rights challenges posed by development activities.

Read Mr. Rajagopal’s full biography