Circular
30/2023
Barcelona, 5 September 2023
To the members of the World Council
To the Secretaries General
To the Vice-Presidents of United Cities and Local Governments
To the Chairs of UCLG Committees, Working Groups, Communities of Practice and Fora
For information: To the Presidency
Cities for Adequate Housing
Contribution to the upcoming report of the UN Special Rapporteurs on Housing and Poverty
Consultation on the decriminalization of homelessness: 20 September 2023, online
Dear members,
Homelessness is one of the most severe problems currently facing cities and regions around the world, undermining people’s opportunities to live prosperous lives and eroding the foundations of caring and cohesive societies.
As part of the ongoing work done by the UCLG Housing Community of Practice and the Committee on Social Inclusion, Participatory Democracy and Human Rights, to advance housing justice, we invite you to join an
online consultation to share the realities and experiences of your city/region in relation to homelessness. You can find here the
agenda and connection details to join the consultation on 20 September.
The consultation will count with the participation of the
UN Special Rapporteur on Housing, Mr. Balakrishnan Rajagopal and the
UN Special Rapporteur on Extreme Poverty, Mr. Olivier De Schutter (tbc). This consultation will serve as the contribution of the organized constituency of local and regional governments to the next report to be presented at the Human Rights Council. The report will be entitled “
Decriminalization of homelessness and extreme poverty”, and will be published in the UN website.
Homelessness is experienced at the local level and it is crucial that the perspective of local and regional governments on this matter informs the discussions of the international community.
Make sure your voice is heard by filling out the
template for contributions and sending it to
a.fernandez@uclg.org (Ainara Fernández) or
a.flety@uclg.org (Amanda Flety)
by 19 September. The contributions will be shared with the UN Special Rapporteurs. Moreover, contributors will be invited to present their experiences during the online consultation on 20 September.
You can also find
here the UN Special Rapporteurs’ call for inputs that the consultation will respond to.
Do not hesitate to reach out if you have any questions or if you have any difficulties filling out the template.
Sincerely,
The UCLG World Secretariat