The Financialization of Housing
From Seattle to Toronto, the cost of owning a home is soaring. Rents are no better. Accelerated by neoliberal economic doctrine a paradigm shift in housing has occurred in recent years. There is a growing disconnect between housing as a human right and housing as a financial vehicle for investment. We’ve come a long way from FDR’s remarkable 1944 State of the Union address where he advocated for, “The right of every family to a decent home.” Today, housing is viewed by the global investor class as a commodity to be bought and sold in markets, a repository for capital and a means of accumulating wealth. Financialization of housing causes gentrification, undermines community, exacerbates inequality and contributes to the disgrace of homelessness. We need to develop and encourage politics that not only restores housing as a universal human right but to make it affordable as well.
Recorded at the University of Colorado.
Speaker
Leilani Farha
Leilani Farha is the special rapporteur on the right to adequate housing appointed by the United Nations Human Rights Council. She was the executive director of Canada Without Poverty, an NGO based in Ottawa. A human rights lawyer by training, she has worked all over the world on the implementation of economic and social rights.
E.A. –
Today, I heard AR show on KPFA, re: financialization of housing and thought of the city where I live, Fresno, CA, where housing is more and more out-of-reach for so many persons & families. Thank you, David, thank you, Leilani, for such a helpful and current topic. I will be visiting your website, Ms. Farha, to read more of your work! A must “listen” (must read) for all who want to address structural inequities in our pandemic and post-pandemic world. Housing is indeed a human right. Thanks for your clarity, your examples, and your hope for change we can all work toward!
smalloy (verified owner) –
So well done and thoroughly illuminating in how she connects the dots.
Christina –
This talk — “The Financialization of Housing” by Leilani Farha was beyond excellent! Very educational and she is a very inspiring speaker/leader, as well. Thank you.
william cobb –
Excellent and informing presentation offering a proper contextualization of housing as a human right. The subject “housing” connects to the health and well being of the homed and the homeless.
Liban Osman –
I have been listening to Alternative Radio a long time but last night’s April 10 housing talk was the best of the best topics. Thank you so much.