1. Introduction
Access to 'adequate housing' as understood in international human rights law is an issue confronting many in France: There is insufficient affordable housing supply, including social housing, for those in need. Housing prices and rental costs are on the rise. Homelessness is increasing at a significant pace in some centres – Paris for example saw, according to Government estimates, an 8 percent increase between 2018 and 2019 – and there are too few emergency shelters and longer term housing options for this population. All of this, combined with a Government rollback on subsidies for social housing and jurisdictional disputes between different levels of government regarding responsibility for implementing human rights obligations in the area of housing, is exerting immense pressures on the sector.
The most difficult aspect of this mission were my visits with residents in the places where they live – on streets, and in parks, squats, hotels, informal settlements, and tents situated in the woods and under highways. The people I met were predominantly refugees, asylum seekers, and people of Roma origin, though some were indeed impoverished French citizens, Traveller communities and permanent residents. It was, as it always is, shocking to see such misery, suffering and destitution in as wealthy a country as France.
Many contradictions in France's housing conditions were revealed to me as the visit unfolded – on the one hand exhibiting strong international human rights compliance with the right to housing and associated rights, while on the other demonstrating a disregard for the same rights.
The justiciable right to housing is guaranteed through the model DALO law, and though France has a large social housing stock it is scarce and often inaccessible for those most in need, which means many low income households must find accommodation in the private market where there is a lack of affordable and decent housing. An impressive and widely known national hotline - "115" - has been created, where people in homelessness or dire housing conditions can call to seek immediate housing assistance, but in Paris, for example, less than a third of the calls are answered. There is a right to unconditional (regardless of administrative status) shelter, but shelters are to capacity. Living standards in France have drastically improved for a majority of the population and the poverty rate has stagnated at 14%; however, extreme poverty is on the rise. The government promotes cultural integration to address diversity and yet there is evidence of spatial segregation based on ethnicity and income level. Many migrants and asylum seekers with whom I spoke explained that they fled to France in part because it is the birthplace of human rights, and yet after arrival in the country they struggle to have their fundamental rights recognized and implemented.
France's legislative commitment to the justiciable right to housing, the President's recent public commitment to ending street homelessness, and France's status as one of the richest countries in the world, are indicators that iy is well positioned to address many of the concerns raised in this statement and fulfill its human rights obligations with respect to the right to housing.
What follows are my preliminary observations on key issues, prominent during the visit. A longer report will be presented to the UN Human Rights Council in early 2020.
2. DALO Law and Access to Justice
France has recognized the right to housing in its national legal framework. While there is no explicit article setting out a right to adequate housing in the Constitution of 1946, it does specify in the preamble that all French citizens shall have the right to receive suitable means of existence from society. In 1995, the Constitutional Council defined decent housing for all as an "objective of constitutional value". In 2007, in response to pressure from civil society, France adopted a law aimed at rendering the right to housing enforceable (Droit au Logement Opposable), known as the DALO law.
France is the only European country to have made the right to housing directly enforceable. The DALO law accords priority in allocation for social housing to certain groups of people in vulnerable housing situations including persons living in homelessness, under threat of eviction, living in temporary
