An Action Plan To Achieve The Right To Adequate Housing

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Mariana Mazzucato and Leilani Farha have collaborated on a roadmap to achieve the right to adequate housing. The roadmap starts with a mission.

Mazzucato and Farha argue that having a mission helps to open the door wide:

    • The conversation becomes “how do we make this happen” rather than “can we afford it?”
    • A mission based approach can involve government, private business, non-profits, co-operatives.
    • In addition to engaging the usual actors (private business and the not-for-profit sector), the door also opens to creating new organizations and partnerships.
    • It allows experience to guide the solutions.
    • Tax policies and pubic spending have a place, along with regulations that govern landlord-tenant relations and private sector lending.

Governments have a history of successful missions. Putting a man on the moon is just one example.

To help consider the full scope of possibilities, Farha and Mazzucato compiled a framework that aligns with achieving the right to affordable housing. In addition to committing to a housing mission, there are five other pillars in the framework:

    • Shaping the housing market, not tinkering
    • Building an entrepreneurial state
    • Public-private partnerships for the common good
    • Public value-driven financing and taxation
    • Ensuring monitoring and accountability

The report is written for advocates, decision makers and policy types in all countries and regions. You can read it at the University College London’s Institute for Innovation and Public Purpose: The Right To Housing: A Mission-Oriented And Human Rights-Based Approach