Tournament: TFA State | Round: 5 | Opponent: | Judge:
I affirm resolved: The United States ought to guarantee the right of housing.
I value morality as ought implies a moral ideal. We determine whats good by if its moral or immoral. Thus the standard is to maximize societal wellbeing.
Life has intrinsic value. Living is the telos of organic life. Allowing death and suffering must be ethically rejected.
Schwartz and Wiggins, 10 (Michael A Schwartz and Osborne P Wiggins Department of Psychiatry, University of Hawaii and Department of Philosophy, University of Louisville, Philosophy, Ethics, and Humanities in Medicine, Psychosomatic medicine and the philosophy of life, http://www.peh-med.com/content/5/1/2)
As we have said, the metabolic activity of the organism is geared toward sustaining the existence of the organism. This being geared toward the sustaining of its own being shows that the metabolism of the organism is "for the sake of" its own continuation in being. The being that the activity is geared toward preserving is the organism's future being. The metabolic functioning is for the sake of bridging the temporal gap that separates the organism in the present from its own existence in the future. In slightly different terms, metabolic activity serves the temporal enduring of the organism. Hence it is temporal duration that poses the main threat to the organism's contingent existence: the question of whether the organism will endure from moment to moment always remains an unanswered question until the future becomes the present and the organism still lives. And the threat can be defeated only if the activity of metabolism is sustained. Life is thus teleological: the present activity of the living being aims at its own future being 8,9. If we can speak of the metabolic activity of the organism as occurring "for the sake of" the organism's future being, this means that at some fundamental level the organism posits its own continuation in reality as a "good." In other words, the organism posits its own existence as having a positive value. Value is thus built into the reality of organic life: it is organic life itself that places value there. It is not human beings and certainly not human agency that introduces value into an otherwise value-free universe. Living beings themselves, by striving to preserve themselves, already signal that, at least for the being involved, its own life is a good 10-12. We can see, then, that the values that motivate medical practice are grounded in organic life itself. While only human beings can develop and practice medical treatment, it is not human beings who introduce into the world the values that call for and justify that treatment. Living beings themselves posit the goodness of an activity that prevents death and alleviates suffering. If for the organism its own continuation is good, then its death would be bad. Hence the moral need to combat death issues from the organism's own internal striving. And therefore the need to treat and hopefully cure the ill organism so that it does not die - at least not before its naturally allotted time - is based on a value that the organism itself posits. The same would be true for suffering and pain, at least for those organism's that can feel. Felt suffering and pain are posited by the organism feeling them as bad. Hence the moral need to relieve and even eradicate pain through medical treatment arises at the most basic levels of life, even if only human beings can recognize this value as a moral requirement and develop the medical techniques to respond to it 11,13.
We must protect our society and make sure that we maximize the life and quality for life.
Contention 1: Violence
Federal housing reform in the status quo is insufficient --- millions are subject to violent coercion since they can’t pay rent.
Capps ’15. Capps, Kriston. “Every Single County in America Is Facing an Affordable Housing Crisis.” City Lab. June 18, 2015. LHP MK
A new report reveals that zero counties in the U.S. have enough housing for families in extreme poverty. From Portland, Oregon, to Portland, Maine. From Jacksonville to Juneau. No matter where you look, there isn’t enough affordable housing. Without exception, there is no county in the U.S. that has enough affordable housing. The crisis is national and it is growing. Since 2000, rents across the nation have increased. So has the number of of families who desperately need affordable housing. Without exception, there’s no county in the U.S. that has enough affordable housing. New research from the Urban Institute shows that the supply of housing for extremely low-income families, which was already in short supply, is only declining. In 2013, just 28 of every 100 extremely low-income families could afford their rental homes. Than figure is down from 37 of 100 in 2000—a 25 percent decline over a little more than a decade. Using data from the Census Bureau and the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, researchers built an interactive map to illustrate the nationwide reach of the problem. In no county in the U.S. does the supply of affordable housing meet the demand among extremely low-income households. (Families who made no more than 30 percent of an area’s median household income were considered “extremely low income.”) A closer look at affordable-housing access for the extremely poor in Travis County. (Urban Institute) In Travis County, Texas, for example, the extremely low-income cutoff for a family of four is $21,950. There are about 7,000 safe, affordable rental units to meet the needs of these poor Austin families. But there are more than 48,000 extremely low-income families living there. The Urban Institute’s research shows how the number of extremely low-income households around the nation has grown since 2000. At the same time, federal housing-assistance programs have grown, but not nearly enough to keep up with need. The difference in the availability of affordable housing between 2000 and 2013 is immediately apparent from the maps, especially in states in the South (namely Alabama, Kentucky, and South Carolina), the Midwest (Ohio and Illinois), and the West (Nevada). Side-by-side heat maps that show the availability of affordable housing in 2000 (left) and in 2013 (right). (Urban Institute) Strike federal support from the map—as many members of Congress might like to do—and the picture grows considerably bleaker. Extremely low-income households increasingly rely on assistance from HUD: More than 80 percent of affordable rental homes for extremely low-income families are provided through assistance from HUD. (This figure is surging: It was 57 percent of households in 2000.) The Urban Institute’s interactive map shows just what a dire situation the nation would face without federal housing assistance. In Pulaski County, Arkansas, for example, some 15,000 families met the criteria for extremely low income in 2013 (earning no more than $18,650 for a family of four). Without federal assistance, none of these poor families in Little Rock would have access to affordable housing: zero. As it stands, only 24 extremely low-income families out of every 100 can find safe, affordable rental housing in Little Rock. Heat map for the availability of affordable housing in 2013 minus federal assistance. (Urban Institute) Suffolk County in Massachusetts does the best at meeting the housing needs of its poorest residents, according to the complete report from the Urban Institute; it leads the 100 U.S. counties with the largest populations in its affordable-housing supply. But the situation in Boston isn’t exactly cheery: Only 51 extremely low-income families out of every 100 are able to access safe and affordable rental housing. At the other end of the spectrum, the situation is bleak. Denton County (in the Dallas-Fort Worth metro area) can only muster 8 affordable rental units for every 100 extremely low-income families. The number of renters receiving federal assistance (in particular through the Housing Choice Voucher program) is rising. Yet it’s just not rising as fast as demand. For the nation’s poorest and vulnerable households, the alternatives are unsafe housing, exploitation, overcrowding, and homelessness. The crisis is most dramatic in cities in the South and West, but there is no place in the nation that it does not touch. It’s not just an economic crisis, but a moral one as well.
This results in violence both on the streets and within government housing
Ehab ’14. Zahriyeh, Ehab. “Violence Against US Homeless on the Rise.” Al Jazeera America. March 28, 2014. LHP MK
Despite a decrease in the U.S. homeless population, new research by an advocacy group for the homeless indicates an alarming increase in violent crimes targeting those living on the streets. In 2013, homeless Americans experienced a 23 percent increase in violence compared with the year before, according to preliminary figures by the National Coalition for the Homeless (NCH). The U.S. homeless population declined over the same period, with 610,000 people going without shelter on any given day in 2013 — 20,000 fewer than in 2012. The homeless “are targeted solely because of their circumstances,” coalition director Jerry Jones told Al Jazeera. “People who are in shelters and marginalized are often preyed upon.” Because the NCH bases its research on reported crimes covered in news media, the actual number of violent attacks targeting the homeless may be much higher, since many go unreported. Jones said he is unable to determine whether the reported increase in violence is due to more attacks targeting the homeless or more reporting of crimes. While Florida has long led the nation in violent crimes against the homeless, California took the lead in 2013. The Golden State has the largest homeless population in the United States, with more than 130,000 people living on the streets, according to an estimate by the Department of Housing and Urban Development. Nationwide, both civilians and authorities have perpetrated violence against the homeless. Earlier this week, residents of Albuquerque, N.M., and rights groups expressed outrage over the fatal shooting of a homeless man by city police. A video released by the Albuquerque Police Department captures the March 16 shooting of James Boyd, a 38-year-old homeless man police sought to detain for camping in an unauthorized area of the Albuquerque foothills. In Seattle on March 15, two off-duty firefighters and a female companion attacked a homeless man sleeping on a memorial for fallen firefighters in Pioneer Square, according to local police. Witnesses said the woman yelled at the man for sleeping at the memorial and then kicked him. The firefighters then joined in, kicking and hitting him with a stick. The victim defended himself with a knife, wounding one of the firefighters.
Violent public housing causes murder, IPV, and crime
Ryley ’14. Sarah Ryley et al, Rocco Parascandola, Barry Paddock, Greg B. Smith '14 (), 4-6-2014, "NYCHA residents live in fear as major crime in public housing soars," NY Daily News, http://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/nyc-crime/nycha-residents-live-fear-major-crimes-public-housing-soar-article-1.1747195 AHS-DM, 7-13-2016
In the sometimes separate world of public housing, a realistic fear of crime lingers over 400,000 tenants — and it’s getting worse. Many of the working people and elderly who make up the vast majority of New York City Housing Authority residents live in a constant state of hyper-awareness to avoid becoming a victim. Records obtained exclusively by the Daily News reveal that in the last five years, public housing tenants have been battered by a stubbornly resilient spike in crime. NYCHA’s 334 projects saw a 31 spike in major crime to an eight-year high, while the rest of the city experienced a 3.3 increase, the records show. “It’s out of control. It’s out of hand,” declared a frustrated Patricia Herman, 61, who’s lived in the Lincoln Houses in East Harlem since 1979. At Lincoln, murders, rapes, assaults, robberies, burglaries, auto theft and grand larcenies — known as the “seven majors”— nearly doubled from 33 in 2009 to 60 last year. A bullet tears through a senior citizen’s living room window. Drug dealers ply their trade openly. For many NYCHA tenants, stepping alone into an elevator or returning from the drugstore as the sun drops below the horizon can be a heart-thumping moment. The NYPD data, made public for the first time, breaks down crime project by project, and reveals many developments have experienced an eye-popping spike in major crime between 2009 and 2013. While murders declined slightly (from 62 to 58) and shootings dropped slightly (from 224 to 209), assaults rose 40, rapes went up 13, robberies increased 24, burglaries 28 and grand larcenies 51. The rate has continued to climb in the first quarter of this year. Sometimes it was a bloody domestic dispute. Sometimes it was a smash-and-grab theft of smartphones. Often it was related to the growing number of loosely affiliated “crews” whose penchant for violence seems to grow each day. Deputy Chief Gerald Dieckmann of the Housing Bureau said the department’s increased efforts urging victims to report domestic abuse have contributed to the rise in recorded felony assaults and grand larcenies. In 2010 about 36 of Housing Authority assaults were domestic, with the rate jumping to 54 last year. “Basically, almost the whole increase is domestic-violence-related,” said Dieckmann, adding that some robberies are the result of domestic disputes as well. “I think that talking about it so much and our education efforts is part of the reason why it’s being reported.”
Thousands of homeless people die because of this.
Keyes ’13. Keyes, Scott. “Violence Against Homeless People is on the Rise.” Think Progress. September 10, 2013. LHP MK
Violence against the homeless people has been increasing recently, according to a new report. Earlier this year, a survey of 250 homeless people living in South Florida conducted by the Task Force For Ending Homelessness found that more than 4 in 10 women (44 percent of women) and 3 in 10 men (34 percent of men) have been victims of violent attacks since living on the streets. “I have heard more reports of assaults in the last six months than I ever have,” the group’s CEO, Lorraine Wilby, told the Orlando Sentinel, noting that most were not random acts of violence, but robberies of what small possessions people carried with them. But even those numbers likely lowball reality, because many homeless people don’t divulge the attacks. Often times, “we don’t hear about attacks because people are afraid of retaliation,” saidLilly Gallardo, director of social services at the Salvation Army. A cursory glance at crime news shows just how dangerous living on the streets is. Mark Lufkin, 39, died in April after he was attacked at a homeless campsite in Concord. A homeless man whose name wasn’t released, 40, was stabbed multiple times by a passer-by in Hampton Bays last month.Robert Kuntz, 61, was killed in August as well after being beaten to death by a man using a table leg. Two California men are behind bars after attacking a homeless man at 4 a.m. one morning in June with rocks, punches, and kicks as he slept on the streets. And the list goes on. The reasons that homelessness is extraordinarily dangerous are as obvious as they are many. Sleeping in tucked away, outdoor areas leaves homeless people vulnerable to attackers. They generally have most, if not all, their possessions right there with them. They are on the streets late at night when few pedestrians are around. Even among those sleeping in a shelter, violence still often pervades between guests. And many in society blame homeless people for their socioeconomic status, affording them less dignity as a person than they do with those who are better off. As a result of the increased violence, advocacy groups in the South Florida area are trying to fight back. The Task Force For Ending Homelessness is organizing a push to talk with homeless people about how best to improve safety on the streets. Another town, Davis, CA, is considering giving homeless people lockers to store their belongings, which would not only potentially help with safety, but could also help homeless people when they go to job interviews or to work.
States fund municipal distribution of housing --- solves internal violence.
Ganapati 10. Ganapati, Sukumar. “Enabling Housing Cooperatives: Policy Lessons from Swedan, India and the United States.” The International Journal of Urban and Regional Research. Vol. 34.2 June 2010. LHP MK
The emergence of institutional structures supporting the functioning of housing cooperatives in Sweden and India provides the organizational level explanation for why cooperatives grew in these two countries. Such structures developed weakly in the United States. These structures help in overcoming the internal problems of the cooperatives with respect to collective action. In Sweden, Bengtsson (1999: 273) argues that housing cooperatives succeeded due to the ‘mutually reinforcing processes of internal organisational consolidation and external institutional integration’. While the embedded autonomy of housing cooperatives provided the scope for external institutional integration, the supportive institutional structures enabled internal organizational consolidation. Three structures — HSB, Riksbyggen and SBC — emerged endogenously within the cooperative system. HSB’s structure comprises three levels: the National Federation (Riksförbund), regional societies (föreningar) and primary TOCs. The National Federation provides administrative and technical support to the regional societies and TOCs and lobbies on their behalf. Regional societies oversee construction and allocation of housing to members in TOCs; they also undertake property management. HSB runs its own construction unit, savings bank and insurance. Members deposit money in the bank to join the queue for house allocation. Like HSB, Riksbyggen has affiliated TOCs and regional offices. However, unlike HSB, Riksbyggen is owned by trade unions (Byggfacken); these building guilds and unions undertake construction. It does not have a bank of its own — it has special agreements with other local savings banks for loans. SBC is a secondary cooperative, whose membership consists of independent TOCs (i.e. not affiliated to either HSB or Riksbyggen). SBC operates through its regional offices, and has its own home savings system. HSB and Riksbyggen thus undertake new construction, and all three provide administrative and financial support to primary TOCs. Whereas HSB played a key role in the growth of housing cooperatives during the interwar period, both HSB and Riksbyggen gained influence after the second world war. However, during the 1990s, they lost their lead role as they became less embedded (see Figure 1 above). With the downturn in the housing market in the early 1990s, HSB stopped its planned construction projects, and closed down its construction arm. Private builders such as Skanska, NCC, Peab and JM, which were HSB’s contractors until 1995, became HSB’s competitors. They began to construct apartments for ownership through TOCs. HSB has increased its housing production since the early 2000s, with the aim of producing 10 of the newly built housing in Sweden (Jan Hellman, Housing policy expert, HSB Riksförbund, personal communication, 22 November 2007). In India, the institutional support structures were established by the state in the context of cooperatives’ overembeddedness. The Cooperative Registrar gained much significance over the years, to the extent that the office is considered to be the god of ‘birth, life and death’ of cooperatives. State governments wield much power over the formation and functioning of housing cooperatives through the office. Nationwide diffusion of housing cooperatives was enabled through the recommendations of the 1964 Working Group on Housing Co-operatives. First, the Working Group formalized a two-tiered system of Apex and primary cooperatives for financial support. Apex cooperatives are state-level secondary cooperatives that borrow money from various sources (e.g. the Life Insurance Corporation and Housing and Urban Development Corporation) and on-lend the pooled money to primary cooperatives. Second, the National Cooperative Housing Federation (NCHF) was formed in 1969 for developing and coordinating housing cooperatives in the country. The NCHF helped in establishing Apex cooperatives across the states. In 1969, there were nine such Apex cooperatives; by 2005, there were 26. I argue elsewhere (Ganapati, 2007) that the two-tiered structure helped the nationwide growth of housing cooperatives, despite the reduction of state support during the 1990s. In contrast to Sweden and India, institutional support structures emerged weakly in the US context of disembeddedness. If all the sections on cooperatives had been passed in the 1949 Housing Act, the National Mortgage Corporation for Housing Cooperatives would have been established to provide financial support to primary cooperatives nationwide (Bailey, 1988). However, the corporation was not established due to opposition from private real estate lobbies. In its absence, nonprofits emerged to provide some support. Under Section 213, two technical assistance organizations were set up: the United Housing Foundation (UHF) and the Foundation for Cooperative Housing (later called the Cooperative Housing Foundation, CHF). The National Association of Housing Cooperatives (NAHC) was established in 1960 as a member-supported national federation of housing cooperatives. CHF and NAHC have undertaken some nationwide technical assistance activities. The UHF subsided in the 1970s after giving an initial boost to cooperative housing in New York. The Council of New York Cooperatives and Condominiums (CNYC) emerged in 1975 as a nonprofit membership organization to serve the primary cooperatives through lobbying, meetings, and workshops and seminars on aspects of cooperative living. Overall, however, the national institutional structures supporting housing cooperatives have been weak.
Empirics --- municipal rental housing guarantees the homeless a safe place to live by lowering rent.
Sida ’11. Ladda Ner Sida. “Homelessness in Sweden.” Socialstyrelsen. 2011. LHP MK
The results of the estimation are presented in Table 5. The high R2 indicates that a considerable part of the differences in rents between the municipalities can be explained by the variables included in the equation. All the dummies had the expected sign and were statistically significant. In Appendix 1 it can be seen that using Tobin’s Q instead of the price level of owner occupied housing gives the same results. There is a strong correlation between the price level and Tobin’s Q (0.984). Evaluating the results from the perspective of the hypotheses formulated, it can be seen that there is support for one of the hypotheses: Rents are significantly higher in municipalities with a higher price level of owner 3 housing (H2). An increase in the price level by 10 per cent increases the rent by about 1.2 per cent for the average apartment. However, the data are inconsistent with the other two hypotheses. The share of the municipal housing company on the market for rental apartments has a significant effect on the rent level, but in the wrong direction compared to hypothesis 1. An increase in the market share of the municipal housing company is correlated with a lower rent level. However, the effect is small and the level of significance is just above the acceptable level. Hypothesis 3 was not supported, as no significant relation could be found between the rent level and the level of capital expenditure (measured by the book value per apartment). The results are consistent with the hypothesis in the third section of the paper that ‘external competition’ puts a higher pressure on rents than ‘internal competition’. It seems that the major firms on the rental housing market can co-ordinate their behaviour and act like a monopoly. The exact degree of concentration on the rental housing market does not appear to have any significant effect on the rent level. The fixed capital costs of a monopoly will not affect the price that the monopoly charges, but the elasticity of the demand curve will be important. This elasticity will to a large extent be determined by the availability of substitutes, for example in the form of inexpensive owner occupied housing. The municipalities with high rents and a high price level for owner occupied housing are predominantly larger cities and towns. Apart from external competition, there are some other factors that may explain the correlation between the price level on owner occupied housing and the rent level. SABO has statistics that show that municipal companies in smaller cities and towns usually have somewhat lower administrative costs. For an average apartment in the sample with roughly 80 m2 , this may explain a rent difference of 80 SEK per month or about 10 per cent of the impact from the price level in these regions. This difference in costs may be related to the argument about X-inefficiency above. Municipal companies in regions with high demand for housing do not have the same incentive to reduce their costs, since apartments are easily let out anyhow. The most surprising result was the negative correlation between the share of the municipal housing company and the rent level. The larger the share of the municipal housing company, the lower is the rent level in the company. A number of factors might explain this, e.g. economics of scale or that a smaller municipal housing company will have a higher share of households with social problems, which increases their costs. The effect was not strong quantitatively: an increase in the market share with 10 percentage points tended to lower the rent by only 39 SEK per month, which is less than 1 per cent of the average rent. Therefore it is not really meaningful to speculate about the explanation for this result.
The AFF clearly solves for violence and homelessness under what I am advocating for.
Contention 2: Children
Poverty from a lack of adequate housing uniquely impacts children and is on the rise now.
White ‘14
White, Martha C. "One in 30 American Children Is Homeless, Report Says." NBCNews.com. NBCUniversal News Group, 17 Nov. 2014. Web. 1 Mar. 2017. http://www.nbcnews.com/business/economy/one-30-american-children-homeless-report-says-n250136. KOHS-RR
Report: 1 in every 30 US children is homeless. So many families are living on the edge of poverty, that one little setback can push them into the abyss of homelessness. A new report released Monday shows that about one in 30 American children was homeless at some point last year. That's about 2.5 million kids, and an 8 percent increase to "an historic high," according to the study from the National Center on Family Homelesness. Just over half are younger than six years old. “It is pretty alarming,” said center director Carmela DeCandia, who co-authored the report. “Poverty is really the driver,” she said. About 20 percent of American kids live below the poverty line, where even a small financial setback can have catastrophic consequences for a family. Five years into the economic recovery, the poorest Americans have actually lost ground, a function of stagnant wages for the working poor and rising rents. Kids are often the collateral damage. Chronically hungry, tired and stressed, up to 40 percent of those old enough to attend school exhibit mental health issues, and they often struggle academically.
Lack of decent housing has adverse effects on the health of children, including disease and death, along with negative impacts on education.
OHCHR
"The Right to Adequate Housing." Economic, Social, and Cultural Rights (n.d.): 1-58. UN Habitat. Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights. Web. 26 Feb. 2017. http://www.ohchr.org/Documents/Publications/FS21_rev_1_Housing_en.pdf. KOHS-RR
Access to basic services attached to the home, such as safe drinking water and adequate sanitation, is fundamental to ensuring children’s health. Diarrheal diseases claim the lives of nearly two million children every year; 80 to 90 percent of these cases are the result of contaminated water and inadequate sanitation. Particularly for girls, lack of safe drinking water within or close to the home can mean long journeys to collect water at remote water points, often to the detriment of their education, along with the risk of being subjected to harassment and other threats along the way. The location of housing is also crucial to ensuring children’s access to childcare, schools, health care and other services. If settlements are far away from schools, or if transport is either non-existent or too expensive, it is hard for children to get an education or health care. Homelessness has particular effects on children, compromising their growth, development and security. Homeless children can be vulnerable to a range of emotional problems, including anxiety, sleeplessness, aggression and withdrawal. Their access to basic services, such as health care and education, can also be seriously impaired if they have no fixed address. Children living and working in the street are particularly vulnerable to threats, harassment and violence by private individuals and the police.
These injustices act as a slippery slope to other abuses and institutionally humiliate children.
OHCHR ‘14
Forced Evictions. Geneva: United Nations, 2014. UN Habitat, 2014. Web. 1 Mar. 2017. http://www.ohchr.org/Documents/Publications/FS25.Rev.1.pdf. KOHS-RR
The demolition or the removal from their homes is a humiliating experience for the whole family, but in particular for children, they feel that they and their families are expendable and their self-esteem takes a hit.15 In addition to the loss of their homes and the related trauma, children often lose access to schools and health care. Evictions and displacements heightens the risk of family separation, which may leave children vulnerable to trafficking and other abuses.
The government has a primary obligation to ensure its citizens aren’t humiliated—honor is a basic human good that should be available to children.
Pettit ‘97
Philip Pettit (Laurence Rockefeller University Professor of Politics and Human Values at Princeton University). “Freedom with Honor: A Republican Ideal.” Spring 1997. http://www.princeton.edu/~ppettit/papers/FreedomwithHonor_SocialResearch_1997.pdf
The decent society, as Avishai Margalit (1996) defines it for us, is one in which the institutions do not humiliate people. They do not deprive a person of honor. Specifically, they do not undermine or jeopardize a person’s reasons for self-respect. More specifically still, they do not signal the rejection of the person from the human commonwealth: they do not cast the person as less than fully adult of human. Decency is a crucial value in a society, because honor in the sense in question here is of the first importance to human beings. To be deprived of honor is to be cut out of conversation with your fellows. It is to be denied a voice or to be refused an ear: it is not to be allowed to talk or not to be treated as ever worth hearing (Pettit and Smith 1996). People differ, topic by topic, in how far they are thought worth listening to; they enjoy lower and higher grades of esteem. But to be deprived of honor is to be denied the possibility of ever figuring in the esteem stakes; it is to be refused the chance to play in the esteem-seeking game. According to a certain stoic attitude, the prospect of not having a conversational entrée to others is not so very bad. After all, it may be said, you can always provide your own company, you can always find consolation in the community of your soul with itself. But this attitude is shallow. Being a person is intimately tied up with enjoying a certain status in communion with others, and perhaps the best marker of the required status is that your voice is authorized by those others. Your reports and remarks, your complaints and your quips, your gossip and your jokes are recognized as a contribution to a shared conversation. You are not ignored, you are not ridiculed, and you are not dismissed. You are a somebody, not a nobody. Let us grant, then, that honor is a basic human good and that decency is a social value of the first importance; let us endorse the basic message of Avishai Margalit’s book. Starting from that assumption, what I wish to show is that the orthodox, liberal, and libertarian conceptualizaztion of freedom is consistent with a serious lack of decency and that this argues for returning to what I think of as an older, republican way of understanding freedom. If we are to make something important of the value of decency in our political thinking, as I believe we should, then we need to reappropriate the republican approach to politics that was sidelined by classical liberalism in the early nineteenth century.
Impacts to children come first—the youth are key to inciting change for long-term stability.
ICTJ ‘15
"For Social Change to Take Root, Children Must Be Involved in Truth-seeking." International Center for Transitional Justice. N.p., 18 Nov. 2015. Web. 19 Oct. 2016.
Children are particularly affected by conflict and mass atrocities and have a unique perspective on how those events impact their communities. This makes their participation in transitional justice processes essential for countries to genuinely make a break with the past and successfully address legacies of mass violence and oppression. The International Convention on the Rights of the Child, adopted 26 years ago, guarantees children a right to participate and be heard. In ICTJ’s work throughout the world, we have repeatedly noted that children and young people regularly express their desire to have a say in building a brighter future for themselves and their countries by learning about past atrocities. With ongoing and planned truth commissions in Tunisia, Nepal, Colombia, and elsewhere, we honor Universal Children’s Day by highlighting the importance of involving children in truth-seeking processes and by providing some practical guidance on how to do that meaningfully. After seven years of working closely with young people in various countries through our dedicated Children and Youth unit, we have identified some are essential steps on how to include them in truth-seeking to ensure their participation contributes and to long-term social change. Here are our reflections, accompanied by helpful tools for practitioners and educators: Children and Youth Must be Heard, For They Are Tomorrow’s Leaders. Not only do children have a right to be heard, in many contexts they are actively demanding it. Ghada from Tunisia, Prativa from Nepal, and Julian from Colombia, representing voices of many others from around the world, the Kenyan TJRC took seriously the need to involve children is direly and put in place processes and protections for them to take part in the truth commission’s statement gathering and testimony giving. Two children-specific hearings were heard, and over 2,000 statements from children were received.
Contention 3: Disabled Individuals
Currently, a growing portion of homeless individuals have some form of disability that affects their likelihood of obtaining housing.
Diament ‘09
Diament, Michelle. "More Than Two-Fifths Of Homeless Have Disabilities." Disability Scoop. N.p., 20 July 2009. Web. 02 Mar. 2017. https://www.disabilityscoop.com/2009/07/16/homeless-report/4153/. KOHS-RR
More than 40 percent of America’s homeless population are people with disabilities and the number appears to be is rising, according to an annual report on homelessness from the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD). In 2008, 42.8 percent of all adults using homeless shelters had a disability compared to 37.1 percent in 2007. The report calls this increase “unusually large for a single-year change.” The numbers could reflect an increased need or simply better data collection, the report says. Meanwhile, just 17.7 percent of the general adult population reports having a disability meaning that a significantly larger percentage of people with disabilities are homeless compared to the rest of the population. One reason for the high number of homeless people with disabilities may be that people in this population are more likely to be impoverished than those without disabilities, according to the report.
Lack of a housing right pushes the disabled into poverty and denies them access to basic human necessities.
COHRE ‘04
"The Right to Adequate Housing: A Case Study of the Social Housing Budget in Northern Ireland." Human Rights and Public Finance : Budgets and the Promotion of Economic and Social Rights (2004): n. pag. COHRE, May 2004. Web. 2 Mar. 2017. http://www.un.org/esa/socdev/enable/rights/ahc3cohre.pdf. KOHS-RR
A billion people worldwide are denied adequate housing and persons with disabilities are disproportionately represented among them. Housing is mostly obtained through the private markets yet persons with disabilities, amongst the poorest in society, cannot compete with higher income buyers and tenants. Indeed, persons with disabilities are likely to they pay more than half their incomes on rent. In the USA, there was no single housing market in 2000 where a person with a disability, receiving social security, could afford to rent a one-bedroom apartment. Discriminatory stereotypes amongst landlords only compounds this struggle to find rental housing. Housing design is often inappropriate – whether it is unreachable water taps, unusable sanitation facilities or the lack of wheelchair ramps – and landlords are often reluctant for simple changes to be made to reasonably accommodate a disability. Many persons with disabilities lack the social services for independent living. While many ‘developed’ countries closed down large institutions for persons with disabilities, they failed to provide the promised community-based alternatives. The result was a massive increase in homelessness. In ‘developing’ countries, persons with disabilities face the worst effects of forced evictions where housing and property laws provide little protection from arbitrary expulsions and almost no alternatives for evicted communities. Securing other basic necessities of life – food and water – is intricately linked to housing and income. Home is where water is accessed and food is prepared. The price of both goods has significantly risen for the poorer groups with the decline in food subsidies and the liberalization of food and water markets. Persons with disabilities may also have specific food and water needs, and disabled farmers require assistance in growing and marketing their own food crops.
Any alternatives to a comprehensive right fail—a right to housing is uniquely key to solving all of the impacts.
Andrews et al. ‘16
Andrews, E. Mitchell, Cristine Delaney Goldman, Katherine Hughes, and Jocelyn Getgen Kestenbaum. "ADVANCING THE RIGHT TO HOUSING IN THE UNITED STATES: Using International Law as a Foundation." REPORT BY THE INTERNATIONAL HUMAN RIGHTS COMMITTEE 1 OF (n.d.): n. pag. INTERNATIONAL HUMAN RIGHTS COMMITTEE1 THE NEW YORK CITY BAR ASSOCIATION O, 12 Feb. 2016. Web. 1 Mar. 2017. http://www2.nycbar.org/pdf/report/uploads/20072632-AdvancingtheRighttoHousingIHR2122016final.pdf. KOHS-RR
The United States does, however, address the issue of inadequate housing through federal laws and programs that seek to alleviate the challenges to adequate housing. Likewise, states attempt to address housing issues through similar regulatory programs, and often go further than the federal protections that are in place. Unfortunately, this piecemeal approach falls far short of the protections that would be provided under a codified right to adequate housing. The weaknesses in this approach at the federal and state level are evidenced, for example, through housing discrimination and ineffective responses to natural disasters. Ultimately, although Americans have access to various federal, state, and local forms of assistance, there is no federal statutory entitlement to housing.
Contention 4: Vetereans
There are thousands of homeless veterans in the US. It’s a problem that needs to be addressed.
National Coalition for Homeless Veterans ("Background and Statistics." National Coalition for Homeless Veterans. National Coalition for Homeless Veterans, n.d. Web. 09 Mar. 2017.)
Although flawless counts are impossible to come by – the transient nature of homeless populations presents a major difficulty – the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) estimates that 39,471 veterans are homeless on any given night. Approximately 12,700 veterans of Operation Enduring Freedom (OEF), Operation Iraqi Freedom (OIF) and Operation New Dawn (OND) were homeless in 2010. The number of young homeless veterans is increasing, but only constitutes 8.8 of the overall homeless veteran population.
The US government has a moral obligation to help homeless veterans because these veterans gave up their lives to protect our country. Now, in their time of need, we ought to help them as well.
Furthermore, housing policies are effective in mitigating veteran homelessness.
U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs 2015 (“Ending Veteran Homelessness, One Home At A Time”, Fall 2015. U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs Homeless Veterans Program https://www.va.gov/homeless/docs/toolkit/DigitalHousingBody102715_508.pdf)
Housing First is the most effective, economical approach to reducing homelessness among Veterans. The Housing First approach aims to provide housing to Veterans without “housing readiness” requirements, other than case management and compliance with standard lease agreements. Housing is not preconditioned on Veterans becoming clean and sober or resolving mental health issues, although it is usually accompanied by supportive services.3 VA uses Housing First because it works. Research shows4 that Housing First reduces costs for temporary shelters, emergency room visits and hospitalizations and ensures that limited dollars benefit the maximum number of Veterans and their families. By decreasing the frequency and duration of homelessness, Housing First means that more Veterans have a safe, stable place to call home.
The affirmative solves – the right to housing prohibits policies that force people into homelessness, and mandates the progressive realization of adequate living spaces for all. Foscarinis 05.
Foscarinis, Maria. Executive Director at the National Law Center on Homelessness and Poverty; A.B., Barnard College; M.A., J.D., Columbia University. “Advocating for the Human Right to Housing: Notes from the United States.” 30 N.Y.U. Rev. L. and Soc. Change 447 2005-2006.
Elaboration of the right to housing, particularly by the CESCR,88 is crucial to an understanding of how it can be integrated into U.S. advocacy. A common argument against the right is based on the false assumption that it simply and unequivocally requires government to provide a free house to everyone. 89 In fact, the right is more complex and the obligation more nuanced. The Committee has specifically stated that the right should not be interpreted narrowly: it is more than shelter or a "roof over one's head"; rather, it encompasses "the right to live somewhere in security, peace and dignity." 90 The Committee thus incorporates into the right the concept of adequacy, and defines the right to adequate housing to includes seven components: legal security of tenure; availability of services, materials, facilities, and infrastructure; affordability; habitability; accessibility; location; and cultural adequacy.9 1 The treaty obligates each state party "to take steps" "to the maximum of its available resources" to "progressively" achieve "the full realization" of the right, by "all appropriate means, including particularly the adoption of legislative measures." 92 As elaborated by the CESCR, the ICESCR includes both obligations of "conduct" and of "result." 93 Because implementation of some of the ICESCR's provisions requires the expenditure of limited resources, the treaty contemplates "progressive realization" of the right over time. 94 However, two obligations are effective immediately: the obligation of nondiscrimination 95 and the obligation to "take steps" toward full realization. 96 Moreover, the requirement of "progressive realization" is a serious one to which nations may be held accountable; some courts have held it to be a judicially enforceable standard.97 Deliberately retrogressive measures-measures that diminish existing housing rights-will constitute violations of the right to housing under international human rights law unless justified in terms of the "full use of the maximum available resources." 98 Elaborating on the nature of the obligation "to take steps... by all appropriate means," the CESCR has stated that, in addition to legislative measures, judicial remedies may also constitute "appropriate means" under the treaty.99 In the context of the right to housing, the Committee has noted that "appropriate means" will "almost invariably include adoption of a national housing strategy" which "should reflect extensive genuine consultation with, and participation by, all of those affected, including the homeless, the inadequately housed and their representatives."' 00 In addition, states must give "due priority" to disadvantaged groups, so that legislation and policies do not "benefit already advantaged groups at the expense of others." 10 1 Also essential and immediately effective are the obligations that states abstain from negative actions and commit to facilitating "self-help" by affected groups; 10 2 and that they undertake effective monitoring, including ascertaining "the full extent of homelessness and inadequate housing within their jurisdictions."' 10 3 Within these general parameters, however, it is up to the individual states to determine how to implement the right: "Measures designed to satisfy a State party's obligations in respect of the right to adequate housing may reflect whatever mix of public and private sector measures considered appropriate." 104 The Committee specifically states that the obligation to realize the rights protected by the ICESCR "neither requires nor precludes any particular form of government or economic system being used as the vehicle for the steps in question, provided only that it is democratic and that all human rights are thereby respected." 10 5 But whatever particular strategies a nation adopts, "the obligation is to demonstrate that, in aggregate, the measures being taken are sufficient to realize the right for every individual in the shortest possible time in accordance with the maximum of available resources." 10 6
