We have the right, we demand housing. Mercantilization as a limit of human rights

Abstract

Since 2008 Spain has beard one of the most important economic crisis in its recent history. What began as a housing bubble would soon develop a serious housing problem, which already was lagging the economy before the explosion of the crisis. Housing problem is still at the centre of the political debate and its possible solutions face both the Spanish and International legislation. This article reviews the current legislation in Spain, connected to the international one, in reference to the right to housing and human rights. Through the analysis of the relationships between the different legal tools, judgments and pronouncements both regional, national and international, with respect to public policies on housing and the neoliberal economy, reflection is made on the effective guarantee of the right to housing and its contradictions from a critical vision of human rights. This text intends to be useful for the debate around the possibilities of overcoming the weaknesses for making legal guarantees effective, by focusing on the housing issue from its possibilities as a right and not as a commodity.