Housing rights are unmistakably part of international human rights law. The right to adequate housing is embedded in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and major international human rights treaties such as the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights. In 1996, world leaders reaffirmed the right to adequate housing when adopting the Habitat Agenda at the Second United Nations Conference on Human Settlements. These instruments and declarations have shaped a global social contract designed to ensure access to a secure home for all people in all countries.

In a world where more than one billion people continue to live in inadequate housing conditions, the imperative of renewed attention to the realization of housing rights takes on added urgency. Under international human rights law, Governments have legal responsibilities to "take steps by all appropriate means" to ensure the full and progressive realization of the human right to adequate housing. Such domestic measures include, although are not limited to, legislative action.

 
“All human rights are universal, indivisible and interdependent and interrelated. It is the duty of States, regardless of their political, economic and cultural systems, to promote and protect all human rights and fundamental freedoms.”
 
Vienna Declaration and Programme of Action
1993 World Conference on Human Rights