Grosvenor House, Glengall Street, Belfast

Thursday 24 June 2010, 10am - 4pm

A landmark event featuring evidence from international human rights experts as well as those from the fields of urban geography, health, architecture, housing, and equality.

Since January 2007 residents from the Seven Towers, a high rise housing development in the New Lodge area of North Belfast, have been gathering evidence on their housing conditions and setting human rights indicators and benchmarks to establish whether their right to adequate housing is being realized. They have engaged with the Department for Social Development and Northern Ireland Housing Executive through a participatory Monitoring Group.

At the inquiry, the residents will launch their new indicators and set our their plans for monitoring these issues over the coming year. The inquiry will also hear testimony from other areas facing similar housing issues which point to systemic problems with housing provision across Northern Ireland and beyond.

Evidence is now showing that the housing needs across the most disadvantaged communities is growing and will be further impacted by the current global recession. The Right to Housing: A People’s Inquiry will build on previous work demonstrating how a human rights based approach can be of use to groups experiencing social and economic disadvantage in a manner which ensures the most effective and efficient use of public resources.

Registration forms are available on www.pprproject.org