Press releases

On August 11, 2023, we issued an urgent letter expressing grave concerns about potential human rights violations in Philadelphia’s Chinatown to 76 Devcorp. The letter focuses on the contentious proposal to construct a new stadium within the heart of Chinatown, emphasizing that this is more than just an ordinary infrastructure project. The stadium proposal has...

BRUSSELS, June 2, 2022- Leilani Farha, Global Director of The Shift and former UN Rapporteur on the right to housing, launched on Thursday the first-ever directives on the financialization of housing in the European Parliament.   “The financialization of housing is one of the leading causes of unaffordability and a major driver of inequality in...

NEW YORK—Today, the Open Society Justice Initiative and the Open Society Initiative for Europe joined The Shift and a coalition of human rights groups in unveiling comprehensive model emergency legislation to protect the right to housing during the COVID-19 pandemic and the resulting economic crisis. The groups ask that governments around the world use the basic legal...

Buenos Aires, Argentina: Después de seis días de visita de investigación de derechos humanos sobre las condiciones de vivienda en el área metropolitana de Buenos Aires, The Shift, liderado por la ex relatora especial de la ONU Leilani Farha, ha dado voz de alarma sobre muchas vidas humanas que están bajo un alto riesgo debido...

Buenos Aires, Argentina: After a 6-day human rights investigation into housing conditions in the metropolitan area of Buenos Aires, The Shift, led by former UN Special Rapporteur Leilani Farha, has raised alarm bells that lives are at serious risk due to the extremely precarious and grossly inadequate housing conditions in which many are living. While...

Leilani Farha, directora global de The Shift y ex relatora especial de la ONU sobre el derecho a la vivienda (2014-2020) y su equipo, realizarán una visita virtual de indagación y reconocimiento sobre derechos humanos en el Área Metropolitana de Buenos Aires, del 23 al 28 de noviembre de 2020. “Esta misión de investigación no...

Leilani Farha, the Global Director of The Shift and former UN Special Rapporteur on the right to housing (2014-2020) and her team will conduct a virtual human rights fact finding visit to the Metropolitan Area of Buenos Aires from 23rd – 28th November 2020. ‘This fact-finding mission is not only a first for us at...

AUGUST 26, 2020 – Following the shocking hard lockdown of nine public housing towers in Melbourne, Leilani Farha, Global Director of The Shift, has issued a letter of concern to Premier of Victoria, Daniel Andrews. Researchers at The Shift, the international movement to secure the right to housing, have found that the State government of...

July 23, 2020 – Organizations from across Canada announce Right to Home, a week of virtual film screenings and live panel discussions from coast to coast about what’s working, what’s not, and what’s next, as we reimagine the right to home during and beyond the pandemic. COVID-19 has exposed the vulnerabilities in Canada’s housing and...

July 9, 2020 – Three years after the death of 72 residents of Grenfell Tower in London, some estimate that up to 600,000 people continue to reside in dangerously clad blocks of all types. According to the government, 300 high-rise residential buildings in England still have cladding of the same type used on Grenfell Tower...