Is social housing a dream?

Among the most fundamental rights that the state must provide to ensure that individuals can live in a manner consistent with the dignity of being human is the right to housing.

Housing, the need for shelter, is one of the basic human needs. For this reason, governments must develop policies in this area and support those experiencing difficulties in this regard.

With industrialization and the concept of the social state, the development of cities has brought with it the need for social housing. In our country, meeting the need for housing first began with the emergence of shanty towns.

If the state does not intervene in the housing market, monopolization and dispossession in housing become inevitable. One of the primary duties of the state is to provide its citizens with housing where they can reside and live humanely. While social housing support in our country was initially provided for the homeless, low-income groups, and the poor, it has now shifted toward building housing for the middle and upper classes.

The state should determine housing policy and establish minimum standards for social housing; it must create low-rent social housing for the poor and needy, as well as implement rent controls, rent subsidies, and housing finance and incentive systems.

The homeownership rate in our country is steadily declining. In recent years, rental prices in our country have been constantly rising due to migration, high inflation, earthquakes, ongoing wars in neighboring countries, and greedy landlords. According to OECD data, we rank first in rent increases over the last nine years, with a 505% increase.

Both the decline in the homeownership rate and the rise in rents in our country necessitate a social housing policy, and its importance is urgent.

The 'right to housing' includes the ability of individuals to meet their need for shelter in a safe and dignified manner, and social housing policies contribute to the protection of this right. However, the right to housing in our country is regulated under Article 57 of the 1982 Constitution. It is stated that the state shall take measures to meet the need for housing within a plan that takes into account the characteristics of the dwellings and environmental conditions.

A condition for people to live with dignity is the right and freedom to housing and shelter. This is also one of the most fundamental human rights.

In conclusion, a social state cannot engage in regulations or actions that eliminate or make it difficult for people to exercise their right to live in accordance with human dignity.

On the contrary, it is obligated to provide all kinds of support to its citizens so that they can acquire social housing where they can live humanely. Otherwise, social housing will remain a dream.