Against Housing: Homes as a Human Life Requirement
Abstract
The paper argues that human beings have a need for homes, not just housing. When this claim is unpacked at the proper level of complexity, it becomes apparent that the dominant mode of struggle for a right to housing is inadequate. Not only does the struggle for the right to housing operate at a level of abstraction removed from the material demands of need-satisfaction, it also fails to specify exactly what a right to housing is a right to. The paper explains the three dimensions of the need for homes (the physical need for shelter, the social need for a space in which one feels at home, and the political need to participate in struggles and movements that lead to the satisfaction of the first two dimensions of the need for homes). The paper concludes with a brief discussion of the practical implications of the political-philosophical claims.
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