Human Rights Report Card Gives U.S. Low Marks

Failing Grades Issued on Multiple International Standards

Today, in commemoration of Human Rights Day, the National Law Center on Homelessness & Poverty released a new Human Right to Housing Report Card, grading the U.S. on its response to homelessness as compared to internationally-recognized standards.

According to international standards, the human right to housing consists of seven elements: security of tenure; availability of services, materials, and infrastructure; affordability; accessibility; habitability; location; and cultural adequacy.  This report card, a shorter update to a more comprehensive 2011 report from the Law Center, gives the U.S. letter grades on each of them.  It also offers common sense solutions the U.S. can adopt to better meet the housing needs of homeless and poor people.

The report recommends an additional investment in federal homelessness prevention programs of at least $1 billion per year.  It also calls on Congress to increase funding for federally-subsidized housing, make the Protecting Tenants at Foreclosure Act permanent, create a federal living wage, and end the criminalization of homelessness.

This report is a sober reminder that we have a long way to go to make the human right to housing a reality here in the U.S.  It is simply unacceptable that in the richest country on earth, men, women and children are going without the basics necessary to human survival, said Maria Foscarinis, executive director of the Law Center.

To read the full report, click here.