Right to housing

Several Législation S fundamental mentions or guarantees a right to housing . This right can take various forms. An important matter is the opposable character or not of this Droit in front of the courts.

The right to the Logement is proclaimed to the international level in the Universal declaration of the human rights, which does not have a legal authenticity, to article 25-1: “Any person is entitled to a standard of living sufficient to ensure her health, her wellbeing and those of her family, in particular for the food, clothing, housing, the medical care like for the social services necessary”.

It is mentioned in constitutional texts, or with constitutional value, in Spain, Finland, with the Portugal, in Greece, Suisse…

Right to housing in France

The right to housing is regarded as rising, in France, of the drafting of 10th and 11th subparagraphs of the Préambule to the Constitution of October 27th, 1946, which belongs to our texts with constitutional value:

10. The Nation ensures the individual and the family the requirements with their development.

11. She guarantees to all, in particular to the child, with the mother and the old workers, the protection of health, material safety, the rest and the leisures. Any human being which, because of its age, of its physical status or mental, of the economic situation, is in the incapacity to work has the right to obtain community of the suitable means of existence.

Cité by the law Quilliot of the June 22nd 1982 (“ the right to the habitat is a basic right ”) then by the law Mermaz of the July 6th 1989 , the right to housing is the main object of the law of May 31st, 1990 aiming to the implementation of the right to housing, said Law Besson. This law affirms that “to guarantee the right to housing a duty of solidarity for the whole of the nation constitutes”. This right does not mean only the nation with the obligation to provide a housing to any person who makes the request of it, but that it must bring a help, under the conditions envisaged by the aforementioned law, with the people who meet the conditions to profit from it

In its decision of the January 19th 1995, the Constitutional council had considered that “the possibility of having a decent housing is an objective with constitutional value”. Lastly, jurisprudence returned it invoquable in certain precise cases, in particular the nomads.

The right to housing is reaffirmed in the law of May 31st, 1990 by its article 1: “to guarantee the right to housing a duty of solidarity for the whole of the nation constitutes”. The law SRU of the December 13rd 2000 specifies him to it concept of “decent housing”.

The High committee for the housing of the underprivileged people proposes in its annual reports to return the right to opposable housing in front of the courts. Beyond the obligation of means imposed by the law Besson, there would be thus an obligation of result: the inter-commune groupings would be responsible, by delegation of the State, the guarantee of the right to housing. This idea was taken up by the current government and several candidates with the presidential election of 2007 of which Ségolène Royal (registered in the socialist project) and Nicolas Sarkozy (in its only name).

The local Droit of the Alsace-Moselle would contain the right to housing and the assistance with the people in difficulty.

Right to opposable housing (DALO)

The opposable adjective “”, in its legal direction, appeared in 1845. It means: “that one can put forward against others”. The claim of a right to opposable housing replaced starting from 2003 in the political discourse that of a “universal Cover housing”, preached in 2001 by the National council of the habitat. The right to opposable housing would make it possible to the people without residence to resort near the authorities to make it apply, in an initially friendly way, then jurisdictional.

The expression appeared in 2002 in a report/ratio of the High committee for the housing of the disadvantaged people, which proposed to create “a juridically opposable obligation of result” for the right to housing.

Following the platform for the right to opposable housing elaborate in October 2003 under the aegis of DTA Fourth World, a demonstration for the right to opposable housing was organized the June 5th 2004 in several towns of France. A national platform for a DALO was made up around DTA Fourth World by 51 associations.

The DALO is become again of topicality in particular after the fires mortals of the sheltering summer 2005 in buildings of the badly-housed persons, like Boulevard Vincent-Auriol (August 26th 2005). A private bill deposited the September 28th 2005 by Christine Boutin had remained without continuation. In May 2006, the government announced the principle of the voluntary experimentation of this right by the local government agencies, after proposal of the National council of fight against exclusion; experimentation remained without concrete continuation at the end of 2006. The government, on the other hand, had rejected the DALO proposed by the socialist members of Parliament the April 11th 2006, during the debates on the law National engagement for housing ; the Minister for Social cohesion, Jean-Louis Borloo, having then considered to be this initiative “premature and unrealistic”.

Legislative evolutions of 2007

The mediatization of the right to opposable housing is mainly related to the action begun the December 2nd 2006 from association the Children of Don Quichotte who organized a camping of tents along the Canal Saint Martin's day with Paris, taken again with a less audience in ten provincial towns.

The bill of 2007 required by the President of the Republic on December 31st, 2006, such as blank by the deputy UMP Georges Fenech, would envisage " suitable means of logement" , but not precisely a housing; it challenges the " collectivité" , but the inaccuracy of this term makes difficult to identify the responsible interlocutor: State or one (which?) territorial collectivity?

The text instituting the right to opposable housing would come into effect in two stages. End 2008, for the people in the most difficult situations: without fixed residence, the hard-working poor, women isolated with children, people in unworthy or unhealthy housing. January 1st 2012, the law will concern any eligible person with the social housing.

In spite of the lack of consideration of its minister Catherine Vautrin (" powders with the yeux"), answering the emotion vis-a-vis the difficulties of housing undergone by precarious employees and with the interpellation of many political officials, the president of the Republic Jacques Chirac asked at the time of his wishes of December 31st, 2006 to make vote for a text creating the DALO before the end of his mandate.

It is what was done with the law n° 2007-290 of March 5th, 2007 instituting the right to opposable housing and carrying various measurements in favor of the social cohesion , published in the Official journal of March 6th, 2007.

The follow-up committee of the implementation of opposable housing was set up on July 5th, 2007 by the Minister for housing and the city, Christine Boutin in the presence of her president, Xavier Emmanuelli. It should be seized of the decree projects of application, in particular of those relating to the installation of the administrative recourse preliminary to the sasine of the Court.

Recipients of the Law

August 1st

Stages of the procedure

August 1st

Reactions to the law on the DALO

For Martin Hirsch (Emmaüs-France), “it is not enough to proclaim it to do it”. It is necessary, according to him, initially “to privilege the very social residences and to privilege solidarity between the poor cities and the rich cities” and “to accept that there are people of mediums disadvantaged beside the easier districts”. It is joined in this direction by the acting general of the Fondation Abbé Pierre, Patrick Doutreligne: the standpoint of Jacques Chirac is “positive, but it is necessary to wait, so that is not right a slogan”.

The Catholic aid “was delighted” but “will be attentive with the follow-up and the application of these measurements in 2007, and commits themselves belonging to the follow-up committee of this program”.

For old the Minister for housing PS Marie-Noëlle Lienemann: “This opposability must be universal and could not limit itself not to a right to lodging. Indeed, the badly-housed persons are not only the SDF, which, of course, must be immediately seen offering a permanent and durable lodging in order to obtain a housing. But, it is necessary, also, to answer all those and those which live in an unhealthy environment, or piled up in too exiguous residences, which undergo a forced cohabitation, etc But that one is not mistaken there, the obligation of results will be reached only at the price of important means devoted to housing (...)”.

For the senator PS Thierry Repentin, " Our concept of right to opposable housing, contrary to that of the government Villepin, is universal. She must profit with the populations which are not able to only place itself, and not only with the most excluded homeless persons and, for whom specific provisions must be taken as regards emergency housing. In addition, this new right must be built with all those who are actors of the chain of housing: the State, town councilors, managements and labor, representatives of the tenants and the owners. From where the idea in our project of an expiry fixed by the law for the application of this right and, au préalable, of a work with the Economic and Social Council. But certainly not in the urgency and the higher bid to answer an associative initiative. It must be done in bond with the recasting of a policy of logement".

More severe, the former senator, current assistant of the mayor of Paris, national secretary of housing with the PS Jean-Yves Mano sees in this law a Leurre: “One speaks to us about governmental mobilization for housing whereas the national budget which is devoted there dropped by 2,7% in 2007. (...) Whereas to make? Not to forget that, to allot residences, it is necessary to build and thus to have the financial resources necessary. (...) in addition to financial means, it is necessary to obtain the additional legal tools. And initially by transferring to the prefect the duty to deliver the permits building for operations of social housing and insertion meeting the listed and only not expressed needs”.

Ségolène Royal, although it approves the principle of this right, estimates taking into account the shortage of dwellings at accessible rents that the reform of the government “is not applicable”. “It is a form of fraud”. In a speech of February 11th, 2007 in front of the militants socialites, François Holland turned into ridiculous the recognition of the opposable right by the government for its irrealism.

The vice-president of the Région Ile-de-France in charge of housing Jean-Luc Laurent (MRC) there sees him also the risk of a " leurre" by " a news trues State towards the communities locales". If area IDF requires since to be recognized organizing authority, “we are ready to accept this new competence only if the State transfers all the financial means correspondents”.

Also virulent, the UDF deputy and mayor of Drancy Jean-Christophe Lagarde: “What occurs to the Canal Saint Martin's day is very important, but there all is mixed. Me, I have 2700 applicants of housing in my commune. I do not have any housing to give them. And then? One does what? Me am condemned? And does that advance with what? It is a vast political swindle in election time! The State would make better attack the price of the land one! ”

For the communist mayor of Champs-sur-Marne Maud Tallet: “What it is necessary, above all, it is an improvement of the appropriations of the State, a better territorial distribution and a real application of the law SRU which obliges the communes of more than 1500 inhabitants to build 20% of social housing. ” whereas Neuilly-sur-Seine counts only 1,6% of social housing of them.

Following the proposal of Jacques Chirac, UMP became a support of the DALO: “the shortage of residences can become a cause of complaint in justice so as to resolve a certain number of initiatives at the same time local and national in favor of housing because there exists still too many brakes today”, but “the idea is to release the initiatives and certainly not to create conflict. ” UMP declares: “To promote France of the owners. ”

Jean-Marie Le Pen (FN) denounced the DALO: “The right to opposable housing, it is a very straight right violation of the property, which is not only guaranteed in the Constitution but which is even one of the four human rights of the Revolution of 1789. ”

“The right to opposable housing, it is very an nice idea, except that they is very dangerous for our country”, judged Guillaume Peltier for MPF. “That will make slip the French company towards a company of the public expenditure: who will pay? ”

Right to housing in the United Kingdom

On the the United Kingdom, the Housing Act of 1977 forces the communes to provide a permanent housing to the people in the need. However this right is subjected to certain conditions which limit the application of it, such as the demonstration by the applicant of his “bona fide” or its membership to certain “priority” categories.

In Scotland, the Parliament of Edinburgh adopted in 2003 the Homelessness Scotland Act , law which removes the restrictive conditions of the Housing Act and organizes the implementation of a right to opposable housing in front of the courts from here at 2012. On this date, very Écossais will be able to seize the courts to obtain a permanent housing of the local authorities.

For Gavin Corbett, association Shelter Scotland “Any watch today that to deprive part of the population of housing because of a debt or a behavior prejudicial is against-productive. And that at the end of the day, such a policy is more expensive in social services or court fees.”

Right life annuity with housing

It is about the statutory duty which a husband has on marital housing when its spouse dies so that he can continue to live there.

Notes and references of the article

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