LEGAL DEFINITION OF THE CONCEPT ‘DECENT HOUSING’

Abstract

No state can achieve the Sustainable Development Goals without providing its citizens with decent, safe and affordable housing. The housing issue remains one of the major problems of urban economies. Sustainable development goals can only be achieved by recognizing the human right to decent housing.

The purpose of the work is to determine the essence and content of the concept of "decent housing" for the preparation and adoption of relevant regulations. The right to housing is one of the most important inherent human rights, it is defined as a legal opportunity to protect their right not only to housing, which can even be a box from household appliances, but also to a suitable one that would correspond to the modern conception of man, his honor and dignity.

Adequate housing (if necessary) should be habitable in terms of protecting residents from cold, dampness or other health threats, structural hazards and disease carriers. Adequate housing should be located in a place that allows access to employment, health care, schools and other social facilities.

The existence of mutual influence of poor living conditions and violation of human dignity, human rights and freedom is indicated, namely that poor living conditions of the person are an obstacle to the use of basic services, which undermine the right to education, health care and employment. This can lead to a closed circle of vagaries and misdeeds, thereby securing segregation in the social sphere and places of residence. Therefore, this, in turn, can create permanent inequality, which will be particularly difficult to overcome. The right to normal housing should be subject to justice so that people can go to court if they are unable to access adequate housing.

A decent housing should provide for the absence of cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment. If a person lives in the conditions that temporarily or permanently deprive them of any of his natural senses (vision, hearing, spatial or temporal orientation) and cause stress, fear or anxiety, it can humiliate or offend them, break their physical or moral resistance. The existence that humiliates one’s dignity is when a person feels humiliated in front of others or has to act against the will or conscience to improve living conditions.

Thus, the definition of "decent housing" should cover requirements that take into account the sanitary, technical conditions of human existence, but each state, taking into account the socio-economic status and cultural characteristics, considers the limits and possibilities of their guarantee.