The US’s top housing authority just declared housing a human right

For years, America’s housing advocates have sought to make housing a right as central to America’s Bill of Rights as life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.

Until recently, no leader of the US Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) has committed to such a vision. But on Tues. March 22, secretary Marcia Fudge became the first sitting US secretary of Housing and Urban Development to declare housing a human right, even if there is not yet any law to back it up.

“If we are to fully achieve justice in housing, we must fully accept what that means,” Fudge said in an address to the National Low Income Housing Coalition policy forum, a virtual event about affordable housing. “Justice in housing is everyone realizing the fundamental truth—housing is a human right.”

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