Globalization and Housing Rights

This article seeks to explore the relationship between the growing phenomenon of globalization and the field of housing rights. I begin with a general description of globalization, and move on to discuss its effect on homelessness, and on housing systems across the world. I examine the role of global corporations; the globalization of housing finance and real estate investment; the reordering of cities and slums; the idea of the minimalist state; and the effects of privatization. I examine the rise of governance networks and how they have created new patterns of making law; globalization’s effect on housing policy; and its effects on the movement of people. Next I look to the idea of housing rights and some specific instances of their development through the United Nations, the Council of Europe, and the European Union. These rights may offer the possibility of mediating the excesses of neo-liberal globalization and promote social equality and inclusion. I conclude with a call to reconsider traditional liberal legal models and housing-as-property regimes, and recommend the legal concept of the “home” may be a more appropriate base model for housing rights in a globalizing world.