From home to commodity: the human right to housing in a market-driven era

Leilani Farha and Kaitlin J. Schwan

Chapter 21 in Research Handbook on Human Rights and Poverty, 2026, pp 364-381 from Edward Elgar Publishing

Abstract: Housing – as a commodity – has become a fixed feature of the global economic order. The scale of wealth generated through financialization is difficult to fathom, and corporate ownership of housing markets has transformed cities around the world. The impacts of financialized housing are felt in every corner of the world. Key effects of financialization include increases in rent, foreclosures of homes, and decreases in affordable housing. There are significant human rights implications to governments’ role in enabling the financialization of housing. In this chapter, we explore the human right to housing in the context of the global financialization of housing. Utilizing a human rights lens, we highlight the ways in which financialized housing policies and practices drive homelessness, poverty, inequality, and human rights violations around the world. We explore governance in the age of financialization, underscoring the need for a paradigmatic shift capable of reclaiming the human right to housing.

Keywords: Financialization; Homelessness; Right to housing; Corporate landlord; Eviction; Housing discrimination (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2026
ISBN: 9781035350506
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