Background on the situation of housing & land rights in the sector you work .

A . Please provide the following information for area or group that you work with.

• Number of homeless individuals and families;

• Number currently inadequately housed without accessed to basic amenities or access to land.
• Number of people classified as illegal settlements or housing
• Number of persons evicted within the last 5 years and the number of persons currently lacking legal protection against arbitrary evictions or any other kind of evictions.
• The number of person in different types of housing/ land tenure by social private owner occupied; illegal sector etc.
• Laws that protect the right to housing as defined in the Covenant.
• Impact of following legislation on housing and land rights on realization of housing rights :
• housing acts, homeless acts; municipal corporation acts;
• acts relating to lands use, land distribution; land allocation; land zoning; land ceilings; acquisition
• laws relating to security of tenure of tenants, protection from eviction; housing finance and rent control;
• laws relating to building codes, regulations and standards
• laws relating to non-discrimination;
• laws prohibiting any form of evictions;
• laws concerning environmental planning;
• laws dealing with health relating to housing and human settlements.

• Amendments; repeals or reform of laws that create an obstacle in the fulfillment of housing rights.
• Legislations conferring legal titles to those living in illegal sector;
• Laws to prevent speculation in housing or property, etc, when it has a negative impact on housing rights.
• Measures taken by government to fulfill right to housing, such as

• encouraging enabling strategies by local community based organizations and the informal sector to provide housing and other related services. Are such organisations free to function and do they get any assistance from the government.
• Build housing units and to increase other construction of affordable rental housing.
• Release of underutilized; misutilised or unutilized land.
• Financial steps taken. Percentage of the budget of Ministry of Housing and other relevant ministry of the national budget.
• Encourage international assistance in housing to fulfill needs to most disadvantaged groups.
• Development of small and intermediate urban centers especially in the rural areas.
• Guarantee of protection of eviction or guaranteed rehousing on based on mutual agreement, during urban renewal programmes, redevelopment projects, beautification of cities, etc

• Difficulties and shortcomings encountered in fulfill housing and land rights and what measures were taken to remedy these situations.
• Impact and role of international assistance on housing and land rights.

(i) Provide the following information on to what extent the State has complied with its obligation to protect housing rights in the sector you work. (The different components of housing rights are given in part (ii) )

• The laws and policies that protect or facilitate the protection of housing and land rights.
• The extent of enforcement of these laws and policies and how are violations dealt with.
• The laws and policies that violate the right to housing and land rights .
• Steps taken to make these law and policies comply with the different components of housing rights;
• Amendments, reform or repeal of laws which have lead to violations of housing and land rights.
• The role of the judiciary in interpreting law and policy to protect land and housing rights.
• Actions or steps taken by the government that violate commitments on right to housing
• Protection of housing rights without discrimination based on caste; gender; religion; ethnicity; economic status, etc.
• Steps by community organizations and civil society organizations to protect right to housing. To what extent has the government been supporting of these efforts.
• Role of the international financial assistance in protecting or promoting housing rights.
• Impact of the laws and policies on women and children.

1. Legal Security of tenure

• security of tenure to housing or land whether it is ownership or rental or cooperative or informal?
• What kind of tenure rights or rights of claim over land and house do people have ?
• protection from forced & arbitrary eviction from their lands and houses ? Evictions can be due to city development, beautification& expansion; development projects such as hydel power projects; mining; thermal projects ; religious and ethnic conflict; war etc.
• Are people consulted , about alternatives housing and land consulted , when facing evictions.
• Are the alternatives sustainable , give examples
• Do women have entitlements to land or housing ?
• Is an effort made in law and practise to give women title deeds to land or housing ?

1. Discuss the kind of access to services and facilities do people have . (If dealing with the displaced population please include information about the situation in original place and place of "resettlement")

To what extent is availability

• Safe drinking water ;
• health services;
• water for fields ;
• sustainable access to natural and common property resources;
• fuel / energy for cooking;
• food storage;
• washing facilitites & sanitation;
• site drainage; etc
1. Affordability
• Is housing and land available at affordable prices ?
• Are there any schemes of the government which provides houses at subsidized cost to those below the poverty line ;
• What has been the extent of land reform to provide land for agriculture to the landless.
• Do laws protect the rights of tenants ?
1. Accessibility
• Do marginalized groups such as dalits ; indigenous people have access to land .
• Are there any policies/ laws to provide land to the landless . How successfully are they implemented.
• Do the physically disabled or old , children; hiv -postitive individual have access to housing.
1. Location
• does the location allow for easy access to land or other means of livlhood;
• in urban areas to work place ;
• access to schools and health facilities;
• is the location free from polluted sites – such as industrial dumps etc.