The Interdependence of Human Rights: The Right to Housing and the Right to Civil Counsel

The University of Chicago Human Rights Program and University of Chicago Law School’s InternationalHuman Rights Clinic welcome Professor Martha Davis for a “Housing Rights 101” workshop titled: “TheInterdependence of Human Rights: The Right to Housing and the Right to Civil Counsel.” ProfessorDavis has written widely on women’s rights, poverty, and human rights. In addition to numerous articles,she recently co-edited Bringing Human Rights Home, a three-volume work chronicling the U.S. humanrights movement. In 2008, Bringing Human Rights Home was named one of the “best books in the field ofhuman rights” by the U.S. Human Rights Network.

Professor Davis’ workshop will explore the relationship between the right to housing and the right tocounsel through the lens of international human rights and urge an integrated advocacy approach. Astrength of the human rights framework is its recognition of the interrelationship of rights: civil, political,economic, social, and cultural. Just as the right to housing is a linchpin for the realization of other rights,so, too, is the right to counsel. While there is no recognized federal constitutional right to housing,several federal statutes protect aspects of the right, including the Protecting Tenants at Foreclosure Act,the Fair Housing Act, Section 8 of the Housing Act of 1937, and the Violence Against Women Act.Numerous state laws offer complementary protections. Without a lawyer, however, people facing a loss ofhousing are often unable to avail themselves of these protections.

This event is free and open to the public. 

More information is available at http://www.law.uchicago.edu/events/2014-04-11-interdependence-human-rights-right-housing-and-right-civil-counsel.