Our goal
Empowered organisations that support the right of all people to adequate housing.
What we do
We Effect supports the growth of cooperative housing associations that are self-managed. The cooperative housing model requires active participation of the members in the construction and maintenance of buildings and also in the management of the housing cooperative itself.
We support organisations that defend and demand people’s right to adequate housing. Through the mutual aid cooperative housing model, the members of the cooperative build the houses to lower costs and the cooperative manages the houses and the living environment. The partner organisations lobby those in power, demanding public housing subsidies, access to land, security of tenure and access to finance for the people of poorer socio-economic levels.
Facts about housing and poverty
Access to a decent living environment is a fundamental factor for people working themselves out of poverty as it increases their security and reduces their vulnerability. The UN Declaration of Human rights recognises the right to housing as part of the right to an adequate standard of living. Adequate housing means that it must be affordable, habitable, accessible, culturally appropriate and safe.
Today, approximately one billion people lack access to housing solutions that meet these criteria, making it difficult to exercise other human rights such as health care, education, work and citizenship.
