ABSTRACT
Housing rights are conditions granted by statutes, or entitlements by law, which rest on the understanding of a need for housing. They imply certain duties and obligations either taken by the state or other entities and individuals. This chapter focuses on housing rights at the level of national constitutions. It presents an overview of the current state of the right to housing within national constitutions, and a classification of constitutional housing rights. The classification, which is based on a survey of 205 national constitutions, reveals three major forms by which countries have chosen to incorporate housing into their constitutions: explicit (direct) right to housing; embedded rights, that is, rights included in articles referring to housing as a component of some other right; indirect or implied rights. Direct rights refer to constitutional articles that explicitly mention 'the right to housing' either as a dedicated article or among a list of social rights.
