Seminar on housing unaffordability from a human rights and social justice perspective

The Public Policy Institute, the School of Counselling, Human Services and Social Work, and the School of Architecture and Planning invite you to a seminar with Dr Mike Webster and Dr Ellie Bahmanteymouri on:

“Identifying political and economic factors contributing to housing unaffordability: A human rights and social justice perspective”

Housing unaffordability has become a significant political issue. The investigators propose that it is equally a human rights and social justice challenge. Access to affordable housing is addressed in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights which states that “Everyone has the right to a standard of living adequate for the health and well-being of himself and of his family, including housing and medical care” (article 25, emphasis added.)

Participants in this research are drawn from diverse disciplines:

• Town planning
• Urban economics
• Urban design
• Non-governmental and public sector policy analysis
• Public and private housing strategy

The seminar will present project findings in response to the question:

What critical questions inform the development of a diagnostic tool to identify the political and economic factors contributing to housing unaffordability?

The end users of the tool are those stakeholders, particularly social workers, without the economic or town planning knowledge to develop such a tool.

Seminar participants will be invited to explore and evaluate project findings and engage in ongoing dialogue.

This project was funded by the Public Policy Institute, University of Auckland.

Mike teaches social work management and leadership in the School of Counselling, Human Services and Social Work.

Ellie teaches Land Economics, Land-use Planning, Housing Policies, and Urban Growth Management Policies in the School of Architecture and Planning, University of Auckland.