This book presents a critical analysis of the concept of ‘adequate housing’. While the concept of adequate housing is used largely as a normative standard in the protection of housing rights and in the implementation of housing policies, its apparent objectivity and universality have never been questioned by political and legal theory. This book analyses and challenges the understanding of this term in law and politics by investigating its relationship with the idea of ‘home’. ‘It is necessary to provide them with adequate housing!’ It is very common to hear this phrase when dealing with housing poverty, especially in relation to migrants, minorities, indigenous and other subaltern groups are concerned. But what does "adequate housing" mean? This book tackles this issue by proposing a critical analysis of this concept and of its use in the development of housing policies addressing the subaltern group par excellence in Europe, Roma. In so doing, it focuses on the lives of Roma and Sinti in Italy who have been the target of inclusion policies. Highlighting the emotional connection to housing, and dismantling some of the most ‘common sense’ ideas about Roma, it offers a radical revision of how social justice in the housing sector might be refigured. This book will be invaluable for scholars and students working on relevant themes in socio and critical legal studies, sociology, human rights, urban studies, human geography and Romani studies

An examination of America's housing crisis by the leading progressive housing activists in the country.

A transformative model for community social work rooted in basic social and economic rights is the basis of this timely Brief. With specific chapters spotlighting the rights to health care, nutritious food, and adequate and affordable housing, the book describes in depth the role of community practice in securing rights for underserved and vulnerable groups and models key aspects of rights-based work such as empowerment, participation, and collaboration. Case examples relate local struggles to larger regional and statewide campaigns, illustrating ways the book's framework can inform policymakers and improve social structures in the larger community. This rights-based perspective contrasts sharply with the deficits-based approach commonly employed in community social work, and has the potential to inspire new strategies for addressing systemic social inequality. Features of Human Rights-Based Community Practice in the United States: A conceptual basis for a rights-based approach to community practice. Detailed analysis of legal and social barriers to health care, housing, and food. Examples of effective and emerging rights-based community interventions. Methods for assessing the state of human rights at the community level. Documents, discussion questions, resource lists, and other valuable tools.

How can we explain the persistent inability of the United States to meet the housing needs of a large portion of its people? What can we do about the problem? In this important new work leading progressive housing activists and thinkers examine the state of housing, the housed, and housing policy in the United States and then provide a comprehensive and detailed program for solving the problem, under the goal of a Right to Housing.

Just Shelter is a work of political philosophy that examines the core injustices of the contemporary U.S. housing crisis and its relation to enduring racial injustices. It investigates gentrification, segregation, desegregation, integration, and homelessness. Taking current conditions and the historical practices that led to them into account, Ronald Sundstrom argues that to achieve justice in social-spatial arrangements we must prioritize the crafting and enforcement of housing policy that corrects the injustices of the past. If we do not address the history of racism in housing policy, we will never solve today's housing crisis.

Focusing on highly topical issues such as torture, arbitrary detention, privacy, and discrimination, this book will help readers to understand for themselves the controversies and complexities behind human rights.