WORKING TOGHETER FOR AN EUROPEAN STATES GENERAL FORUM ON THE RIGHT TO HOUSING

WORKING TOGETHER FOR A EUROPEAN STATES GENERAL FORUM ON THE RIGHT TO HOUSING

The call for a States General launched at the Athens European Forum in May 2006 initiated a new process.

We, associations, social movements, elected representatives and progressive political forces gather in Bobigny on 2 February 2007 to confirm our commitment to this process based on common principles.

We declare our solidarity with all the campaigns and actions being carried out in Europe by the different groups participating in the right to housing movement.

We commit ourselves to the following lines of action and initiatives:

• Extend the network of participants in the construction of a European States General Forum, going beyond the 27 countries on the European Union, and targeting citizens, associations and all types of groups, including institutional bodies working in this field.

• Continue to analyse the problem causation, in particular the increasing merchandising of housing and land brought about by liberal practices, which lead to the same problems arising in all European countries, in various forms such as the:

• general deterioration of the urban environment and the housing situation in terms of quality and quantity;

• untenable and unprecedented rise in the cost of housing;

• ever-increasing housing insecurity and evictions of poor and ethnic sectors of society (migrants, Traveller’s etc.);

• exclusion of a growing number of people, particularly young people, from the fundamental right to access to decent accommodation.

• Continue international co-operation between campaigns and the increasing opposition in this area by encouraging meetings, the sharing of experiences, and the joint action by social movements and elected officials active in this field.

• Establish the key points of the campaign and concrete proposals to make housing a fundamental right across the whole of Europe, particularly by developing a public housing service.

• Participate in the international days for the right to housing and against evictions in October 2007.

• Organise a European States General Forum in autumn 2007, on a local, national and network level.

Participants from:
Belgium (SDF, Solidarités Nouvelles), Spain (Plataforma por una Vivienda Digna), France (AITEC, ANECR, CIDEFE, CNL, Droit au Logement, GUE-NGL, Les Enfants de Don Quichotte, OPH Montreuil, PCF, REALPE, Ville de Lyon), Italy (Unione Inquilini, Action Diritti in Movimento, International Alliance of Inhabitants, Città Amica, PRC), Poland (CK-LA), United Kingdom (Thames Valley Gypsy Association), Russia (SKS).

Bobigny, 2 February 2007

Technical secretariat:
International Alliance of Inhabitants, ANECR, REALPE, Plataforma por una Vivienda digna

For Further informations:
info@habitants.org and lalezard@elunet.org
www.habitants.org