The International Year of Shelter for the Homeless (IYSH) was recognized in 1987 by the United Nations. It was first declared, in principle, in UN resolution 36/71 [1] in 1981, and proclaimed officially in 1982 in resolution 37/221. [2] It was mainly aimed at improving shelter / housing for the poor in general (and not just homeless people), especially in developing countries. It was also a follow-up to the Habitat I conference in 1976.
In several countries, national actions were created, such as Australia which created an IYSH Secretariat, or the United Kingdom where a trust was created to collect donations from housing associations for shelter projects in developing countries, with some projects part-funded by the Overseas Development Administration. The trust later evolved into the NGO Homeless International (now operating as Reall, or Real Equity for All).
The World Habitat Awards were created by the BSHF as their contribution to the IYSH. Two other prizes were created by the Japan Housing Association as awards to deserving housing projects, the IYSH Memorial Prize in 1988 and the IYSH Memorial Encouragement Prize in 2006. [3]
| Number | Year | Memorial Prize | Memorial Encouragement Prize |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1988 | Father Jorge Anzorena [4] | |
| 2 | 1989 | Somsook Boonyabancha [4] | |
| 3 | 1990 | Arif Hasan and Sister Annie Abion [4] | |
| 4 | 1991 | Johan Silas and Enrique Ortiz [4] | |
| 5 | 1992 | SPARC [4] | |
| 6 | 1993 | Freedom to Build [4] | |
| 7 | 1994 | People's Dialogue South Africa [4] | |
| 8 | 1995 | Women's Bank and Pagtambayayong Foundation [4] | |
| 9 | 1996 | ||
| 10 | 1997 | ||
| 11 | 1998 | ||
| 12 | 1999 | Human Settlements Foundation (Thailand) [4] | |
| 13 | 2000 | ||
| 14 | 2001 | Sevanatha (Sri Lanka) [4] | |
| 15 | 2002 | Shack Dwellers Federation Namibia and ASAG Ahmedabad [4] | |
| 16 | 2003 | ||
| 17 | 2004 | Denis Murphy [4] | |
| 18 | 2005 | ||
| 19 | 2006 | Lumanti (Nepal) [4] | TAO-Pilipinas (Philippines) [5] |
| 20 | 2007 | Teofang Tnaut (Cambodia) [6] | |
| 21 | 2008 | Help-O (Sri Lanka) [4] | Urban Development Resource Center (Mongolia) [3] |
| 22 | 2009 | Urban Poor Development Fund in Cambodia [4] | |
| 23 | 2010 |
Homelessness in Canada was not a social problem until the 1980s. The Canadian government housing policies and programs in place throughout the 1970s were based on a concept of shelter as a basic need or requirement for survival and of the obligation of government and society to provide adequate housing for everyone. Public policies shifted away from rehousing in the 1980s in wealthy Western countries like Canada, which led to a de-housing of households that had previously been housed. By 1987, when the United Nations established the International Year of Shelter for the Homeless (IYSH), homelessness had become a serious social problem in Canada. The report of the major 1987 IYSH conference held in Ottawa said that housing was not a high priority for government, and this was a significant contributor to the homelessness problem. While there was a demand for adequate and affordable housing for low income Canadian families, government funding was not available. In the 1980s a "wider segment of the population" began to experience homelessness for the first time – evident through their use of emergency shelters and soup kitchens. Shelters began to experience overcrowding, and demand for services for the homeless was constantly increasing. A series of cuts were made to national housing programs by the federal government through the mid-1980s and in the 1990s. While Canada's economy was robust, the cuts continued and in some cases accelerated in the 1990s, including cuts to the 1973 national affordable housing program. The government solution for homelessness was to create more homeless shelters and to increase emergency services. In the larger metropolitan areas like Toronto the use of homeless shelters increased by 75% from 1988 to 1998. Urban centres such as Montreal, Laval, Vancouver, Edmonton, and Calgary all experienced increasing homelessness.
Patricia Helen LaMarche is an American political figure and activist with the Green Party of the United States; she was the party's vice-presidential candidate in the 2004 United States presidential election, with David Cobb as its presidential candidate, and was one of seven co-chairs of the party’s national committee, and was elected to that position on July 24, 2005.
The United Nations Human Settlements Programme (UN-Habitat) is the United Nations programme for human settlements and sustainable urban development. It was established in 1977 as an outcome of the first United Nations Conference on Human Settlements and Sustainable Urban Development held in Vancouver, Canada, in 1976. UN-Habitat maintains its headquarters at the United Nations Office at Nairobi, Kenya. It is mandated by the United Nations General Assembly to promote socially and environmentally sustainable towns and cities with the goal of providing adequate shelter for all. It is a member of the United Nations Development Group. The mandate of UN-Habitat derives from the Habitat Agenda, adopted by the United Nations Conference on Human Settlements in Istanbul, Turkey, in 1996. The twin goals of the Habitat Agenda are adequate shelter for all and the development of sustainable human settlements in an urbanizing world.
Affordable housing is housing which is deemed affordable to those with a household income at or below the median as rated by the national government or a local government by a recognized housing affordability index. Most of the literature on affordable housing refers to mortgages and a number of forms that exist along a continuum – from emergency homeless shelters, to transitional housing, to non-market rental, to formal and informal rental, indigenous housing, and ending with affordable home ownership.
The World Habitat Awards were established in 1985 by the Building and Social Housing Foundation as part of its contribution to the United Nations' International Year of Shelter for the Homeless in 1987.
Slum upgrading is an integrated approach that aims to turn around downward trends in an area. These downward trends can be legal, physical (infrastructure), social or economic." The main objective of slum upgrading is to rehabilitate them into functional neighborhoods by addressing the social needs of the community, and improving integration into the formal urban economy.
Breaking Ground, formerly Common Ground, is a nonprofit social services organization in New York City whose goal is to create high-quality permanent and transitional housing for the homeless. Its philosophy holds that supportive housing costs substantially less than homeless shelters — and many times less than jail cells or hospital rooms, and that people with psychiatric and other problems can better manage them once they are permanently housed and provided with services. Since its founding in 1990 by Rosanne Haggerty, the organization has created more than 5,000 units of housing for the homeless. "This is about creating a small town, rather than just a building," according to Haggerty. "It's about a real mixed society, working with many different people." Haggerty left the organization in 2011 to found Community Solutions, Inc. Brenda Rosen was promoted from Director, Housing Operations and Programs to Executive Director, and has led the organization since.
Homelessness or houselessness – also known as a state of being unhoused or unsheltered – is the condition of lacking stable, safe, and functional housing. The general category includes disparate situations, such as living on the streets, moving between temporary accommodation such as family or friends, living in boarding houses with no security of tenure, and people who leave their domiciles because of civil conflict and are refugees within their country.
The right to housing is the economic, social and cultural right to adequate housing and shelter. It is recognized in some national constitutions and in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights. The right to housing is regarded as a freestanding right in the International human rights law which was clearly in the 1991 General Comment on Adequate Housing by the UN Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights. The aspect of the right to housing under ICESCR include: availability of services, infrastructure, material and facilities; legal security of tenure; habitability; accessibility; affordability; location and cultural adequacy.
World Habitat Day is marked on the first Monday of October each year, and is recognized by the United Nations to reflect on the state of towns and cities, and on the basic right of all to adequate shelter. The day is also intended to remind the world that everyone has the power and the responsibility to shape the future of towns and cities. World Habitat Day was first celebrated in 1986 in Nairobi, Kenya, and the theme chosen for that year was "Shelter is My Right".
Picture the Homeless (PTH) is an American homeless person–led rights organization founded in 1999 by Lewis Haggins and Anthony Williams. It focuses on human rights, housing, police violence and other social justice issues. It was housed originally in Judson Memorial Church, which still hosts its Longest Night of the Year memorial event, and was located for a time in El Barrio and 2427 Morris Avenue in the Bronx. It is currently based at 104B E 126th Street in Manhattan.
Dolores Delahanty is a social activist and political leader in Louisville, Kentucky. She was a founding member of the National Women's Political Caucus during the early Civil Rights Movement, and she was critical to the success of Kentucky's Fair Credit Law. Delahanty has devoted her life to improving the lives of others, primarily those of Kentucky women and children.
The UN-Habitat Scroll of Honour Award was created by the United Nations Centre for Human Settlements (UNCHS) in 1989 to encourage and recognize the countries, governments, organizations, and individuals who have made great contributions to the development of housing. It is the most prestigious human settlements award in the world by the United Nations, given by the United Nations Human Settlements Programme (UN-Habitat), and has recognized 192 initiatives since its launch in 1989.
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The St Mungo Community Housing Association, working as St Mungo's, is a charity registered in England to help homeless people.
Community-led housing is a method of forming future residents into a 'building group' who contribute to the design and development of new housing to meet their longer term needs, rather than leaving all design decisions to a developer looking to maximise the immediate financial return.
Informal housing or informal settlement can include any form of housing, shelter, or settlement which is illegal, falls outside of government control or regulation, or is not afforded protection by the state. As such, the informal housing industry is part of the informal sector.
Joe Flood is a policy, data analyst and mathematician. He has made contributions to mathematics, housing and urban economics, urban indicators, slum studies, climate change and genetic genealogy.
Housing indicators are policy indicators designed to measure progress toward achieving housing policy goals. A housing indicator is a single, usually dimensionless number that points the way to improving housing outcomes. Because housing policy is heavily intertwined with other sectors such as social, economic, demographic and labour policy, and with the construction and finance industries, it requires a fairly comprehensive system of indicators to cover most of the key policies and issues. Housing indicator sets may contain political bias supporting the agendas or interests of those drawing up the system..
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