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California’s Dangerous Pivot on Homelessness: A Warning for the Nation

California's Dangerous Pivot on Homelessness: A Warning for the Nation

Leilani Farha & Kirsten McRae The U.S. Supreme Court recently delivered a devastating blow to homeless people, greenlighting the criminalization of poverty and denying the most vulnerable group in America potentially life-saving Constitutional protections. In a chilling decision, the Court ruled that jailing and fining people for sleeping outdoors on public property when they have...
California’s Dangerous Pivot on Homelessness: A Warning for the Nation

California's Dangerous Pivot on Homelessness: A Warning for the Nation

The U.S. Supreme Court recently delivered a devastating blow to homeless people, greenlighting the criminalization of poverty and denying the most vulnerable group in America potentially life-saving Constitutional protections. In a chilling decision, the Court ruled that jailing and fining people for sleeping outdoors on public property when they have nowhere else to go is...
THE SHIFT AT URBAN FUTURE 2024: UNITING HOUSING RIGHTS AND CLIMATE ACTION

THE SHIFT AT URBAN FUTURE 2024: UNITING HOUSING RIGHTS AND CLIMATE ACTION

By Kirsten McRae The world is facing two dire crises; the global housing crisis and the climate crisis. The urgency of these crises cannot be overstated. Today, 1.8 billion people worldwide lack access to adequate housing, while in Europe alone, 80 million people face housing unaffordability. Simultaneously, to limit global warming to 1.5°C, we must...
Stop RBC Takeover Campaign: Advocating for Sustainability and Indigenous Rights

Stop RBC Takeover Campaign: Advocating for Sustainability and Indigenous Rights

By Kirsten McRae In November of 2023, The Shift joined an existing coalition of more than a dozen non-profits and human rights organizations that constituted the Stop RBC Takeover Campaign, aiming to halt the acquisition of HSBC Canada by the Royal Bank of Canada (RBC). Although a smaller coalition of organizations had been fighting RBC’s...
An Ontario ruling defending those living in encampments is only a partial victory

An Ontario ruling defending those living in encampments is only a partial victory

Source: The Globe & Mail Leilani Farha is global director of The Shift, the former United Nations Special Rapporteur on the right to housing from 2014 to 2020 and the co-host of the bimonthly podcast, Pushback Talks. Diana Chan McNally is a front-line worker supporting homeless people. Last week, the Ontario Superior Court of Justice decided that the Regional Municipality...
As Skyrocketing Rents Leave Refugees with Nowhere to Go, The Human Right to Housing is Needed More than Ever

As Skyrocketing Rents Leave Refugees with Nowhere to Go, The Human Right to Housing is Needed More than Ever

Source: NewCities Kirsten McRae, Communications & Marketing Manager, The Shift It’s in the news every day—people are forced to flee their homes in growing numbers due to circumstances beyond their control. According to the World Economic Forum, the number of people fleeing their homes has doubled in the last ten years and it’s predicted that more than...
The Global Housing Crisis: A Crisis Unlike Any Other

The Global Housing Crisis: A Crisis Unlike Any Other

Source: Urbanet By Kirsten McRae Echoes of the same story can be heard in cities across the globe – homelessness is on the rise and the cost of housing is increasing at an alarming rate while the availability of decent housing dwindles. Kirsten McRae with recent statistics on the global housing crisis and why we...
Gentrification isn’t behind Mexico’s housing crisis. Financialization is.

Gentrification isn’t behind Mexico’s housing crisis. Financialization is.

Source: Washington Post The global value of housing has surged 53% in four years, but the profits are literally at the expense of tenants.   By Leilani Farha and Fredrik Gertten Fredrik Gertten is a documentary filmmaker and Director of ‘Push’; Leilani Farha is the Global Director of The Shift and former UN Special Rapporteur...
How to Avert the Next Housing Crisis

How to Avert the Next Housing Crisis

Strategies must be adopted that protect affordable homes and insulate housing against speculative investors
Op-Ed: When governments sell out to developers, housing is no longer a human right

Op-Ed: When governments sell out to developers, housing is no longer a human right

Strategies must be adopted that protect affordable homes and insulate housing against speculative investors

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