“International human rights law recognizes everyone’s right to an adequate standard of living, including adequate housing. Despite the central place of this right within the global legal system, well over a billion people are not adequately housed.”
— Fact Sheet 21: The Right To Adequate Housing; Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights
On this International Human Rights Day, we invite the community to focus on housing as a human right. While Northampton has added significantly to its housing stock in the last five years, too many neighbors remain unhoused, inadequately housed, and more of us are living a paycheck or two away from losing the housing we do have.
The twin epidemics of opioid addiction and COVID-19, and the growing wealth gap that is approaching historic proportions in our country, have been contributing factors in this crisis. There is currently an 11,000-unit housing supply gap here, anticipated to grow to 19,000 units by 2025, according to Wayfinders CEO Keith Fairey, speaking to a recent meeting of the Community Resilience Hub working group.
Article 25 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights affirms the essential “right to a standard of living adequate for … health and well-being … including food, clothing, housing and medical care and necessary social services, and the right to security in the event of unemployment, sickness, disability, widowhood, old age or other lack of livelihood in circumstances beyond one’s control.”
How do we actualize this commitment locally? The gap in housing units feels catastrophically insurmountable. The reasons leading to homelessness and housing insecurity are many and varied and unique to each individual and family. At the same time, there are underlying systems of inequity that present barriers to quick solutions.
In the coming year, the Northampton Human Rights Commission will focus energy and attention on housing as a human right. We are partnering with Forbes library to host a panel conversation on Feb. 16 via Zoom. We will hear from community members with lived experience of homelessness and with professionals dedicated to ending the crisis in our region. We will be inviting your questions for our panelists.
Imagining a more just Northampton, where all of us have access to safe housing, is possible. Many fellow Northamptonites have been working on this for years, and collectively, we have made great improvements. And we acknowledge it is not yet enough. We invite more people to bring your attention, energy, ideas, and commitment to the communal table.
Please look for more information about this program in the new year.
On this anniversary of the adoption of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, may we reaffirm the essential dignity and humanity of every human being; may we hold tight to the vision of a more safe, just, and beloved community in our hearts; and may we join our hands together, one community, to bring that dream closer.
Megan Paik and Wren Bellavance-Grace are co-chairs of the Northampton Human Rights Commission.