THE US REPORT

by Kay B. Day

UN Special Rapporteur Raquel Rolnik is investigating the housing crisis in the U.S. Rolnik's home state where she directed urban planning is crime-ridden.United Nations Special Rapporteur on adequate housing Raquel Rolnik is visiting American cities like New York and New Orleans, and the international consultant for urban and housing policy will then file a report with the Geneva-based UN human Rights Council. A UN statement said, “The mortgage crisis that is at the head of the current financial turmoil reflects ‘fundamental’ flaws in the way countries approach housing, and highlights the danger in thinking that markets alone will ensure adequate housing for all.” Meanwhile Rolnik’s home state explodes with crime.

Rolnik said, “The belief that markets will provide adequate housing for all has failed. The current crisis is a stark reminder of this reality…A home is not a commodity—four walls and a roof. It is a place to live in security, peace and dignity, and a right for every human being.” Rolnik said the mortgage crisis will result in “a sharp increase in the numbers of the homeless.” She did not differentiate between the voluntary and involuntary homeless.

The rapporteur suggested a better system be developed, “one that provides more housing options and avoids relying on a single solution.”

Rolnik’s mandate, the UN statement said, “involves reporting annually to the Human Rights Council on the status of the realization of the right to adequate housing throughout the world…”

In an academic paper ‘Territorial Exclusion and Violence: The Case of São Paulo Brazil,’ [1999], Rolnik wrote, “[R]isky urbanization has an impact on the whole city. By concentrating assets in a small area and preventing all citizens from sharing these resources, the best-equipped spaces of the city become threatened by real estate pressure, congestion, and crime.” From 1989-1992, Rolnik held a public post as Director of Urban Planning for the city of São Paulo.

The UN statement said Rolnik “urged those countries that have not already done so to legally recognize the right to adequate housing for all, noting that some developing countries are more advanced in that regard than many wealthier ones.” Countries under totalitarian rule often provide subsistence housing and meet other minimal needs because the government controls all income.

Rolnik was born in São Paulo, the same state where she eventually directed urban planning. In a report dated April 27, 2009, The Overseas Securities Advisory Council (US Gov.) said, “The criminal threat for São Paulo is rated critical by the U.S. Department of State.  Despite reported decreases in crime levels in the State of São Paulo, crime is still oppressive and widespread.  Much of São Paulo’s crimes and violence can be attributed to mobile street gangs and organized crime groups.” The Council also reported, “ São Paulo continues to be notorious for the brazenness of certain high profile crimes and violent crimes such as murder, rape, and kidnappings.  Armed assaults and burglaries continue to be a part of normal everyday life.  Every São Paulo neighborhood is susceptible to high crime rates.  Reports of armed robberies continue to occur regularly in the generally affluent residential sections of Jardins Morumbi and Santo Amaro, where a number of government and business leaders and a majority of the U.S. Consulate employees reside.”

In the U.S., Rolnik will likely hold meetings with public housing activists as she did in New York on Thursday. Crime in some of the U.S. cities she will visit pales by comparison to crime in the state where she played a major role in housing.

The OSAC report said, “The major crimes that tend to dominate the environment in São Paulo and are still a serious concern to consulate employees and Americans in Brazil are 'express' kidnappings, carjacking, virtual kidnapping and home invasion.  Express kidnappings occur when criminals force their victims to extract their daily cash limit from an ATM machine, virtual kidnappings are a telephone scam designed to get potential victims to pay a ransom even though no one close to them has been kidnapped and home invasions involve large groups of heavily armed criminals who take over either houses or apartment complexes and rob the owners or all the occupants.”