From global norms to local homes
This dissertation examines how the international right to adequate housing functions and exerts influence within domestic contexts, through a comparative analysis of Ireland and Spain. This research is motivated by the persistent housing crisis across Europe, which has led to unaffordable housing, mass evictions, and even homelessness. These realities sit uneasily with the protections afforded to the right to housing under international and European human rights treaties.This thesis aims to examine the gap between the international right to housing’s normative standards and reality of those facing housing insecurity. It investigates how this right is interpreted and utilised by institutional and non-institutional domestic actors. To achieve this aim, the study combines doctrinal, empirical, and comparative legal research, studying both the law in the books and in action. Central to this analysis is the development of a set of legal indicators designed to identify evidence of the international right to housing’s direct and indirect influence.The findings demonstrate that a series of ex-post and ex-ante eviction protections are recognised under international human rights law. The empirical findings presented in this thesis show that show that these eviction protections influence domestic legal systems in both direct and indirect ways: directly through the incorporation of treaties into domestic law, and indirectly, through policy development, awareness-raising, and social mobilisation. This thesis concludes that the right to housing is a flexible and context-dependent right, whose influence depends largely on the actors invoking it and the institutional environments in which it operates.