Complaint alleging that the manner in which legislation related to housing is implemented in France resulted in a situation of non conformity with the right to housing; Article 31 (right to housing ) and Article E (non-discrimination) of the Revised European Social Charter; Housing Rights; Forced Evictions; Equality / Non-discrimination; Roma/Traveler’s Rights.
Following the Committee’s decision, the Council of Europe Committee of Ministers (COM) adopted Resolution CM/ResChS(2008)8, July 2nd 2008 in which that body noted, amongst other things, that even before the Committee’s decision, France had taken measures to bring the situation into conformity with the revised Charter. The Resolution stated that France undertook to follow up these measures by taking into account the Committee’s findings, namely by implementing Act No.2007-290 of March 5th 2007 on the enforceable right to housing. While a justiciable right to housing was enacted in France prior to the complaint, under Act No. 2007-290, subsequent housing laws have not been oriented towards the resolution of the deficiencies identified by the Committee. The decision has been employed by housing rights advocates in applications to district and national courts while some local authorities have used it in their strategic guidelines and budget discussions with central government. Thus far, there has been only one decision exclusively based on the Committee’s conclusions. This was taken by the Haute Autorité de Lutte contre les Discriminations et pour l’Egalité (the national anti-discrimination agency).
On the same day as its decision in FEANTSA v France, the Committee transmitted its decision on the merits with regard to International Movement ATD Fourth World v France, Complaint No.33/2006, which alleged violations of the right to housing of persons in extreme poverty. The Committee had previously held a joint public hearing with representatives of the parties to both collective complaints. In its decision, the Committee made similar findings on a number of the same issues as those addressed in the FEANTSA decision. The Committee also held that families living in poverty were discriminated against in respect of effective access to their rights in violation of Article 30 in conjunction with Article E. This was due to, amongst other things, denial of national identity cards to families living in huts and caravans in municipalities on the grounds that such families had no address, resulting in their being denied other social rights which require possession of such a card.
This decision is significant due to the Committee’s extensive definition of the nature and extent of the housing rights obligations of those European States that have ratified Article 31 of the RESC. It provides a valuable guide to evaluate housing systems from a human rights perspective. Notably, the Committee used the ICESCR as ‘a key source of interpretation’ of Article 31, as well as the UN Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights’ General Comments No.4 and 7 and the work of the UN Special Rapporteur on the Right to Adequate Housing. The Committee thus made a clear link between the scope of the right to housing under international human rights law and the right to housing under the Revised Charter. While the Committee has previously made extensive use of the ECHR and the jurisprudence of the European Court of Human Rights in its housing rights decisions, the same has not been true with regard to the work of the UN ESCR Committee.
FEANTSA – European Federation of National Organisations Working with the Homeless Webpage: www.feantsa.org