Right to Housing: Lessons from the Chilean Constitutional Process
In the last few years, as Chile tried to navigate its path to a new constitution, political elites succeeded in preventing structural change. One of the fundamental constitutional issues at stake was the right to housing for all Chileans. Professor Camila Vergara explains here why the recent Chilean constitutional process failed, while remarking the importance and size of the Chilean movement(s) for the right to housing.
About Camila Vergara
Camila Vergara is a critical legal theorist, historian, and journalist from Chile investigating the relation between inequality and the law, and the possible institutional solutions to systemic corruption. Her work focuses on constitutional reform, social rights, and the commons as alternative frameworks for democratic governance.
📅 Conference Details
"I beni comuni / Housing and the Commons. Una soluzione istituzionale innovativa per l'edilizia sociale?"
- Date: June 27, 2024
- Location: Trento, Italy
- Conceived by: Ugo Mattei
- Organized by:
- International University College of Turin (IUC)
- Coop Generazioni Future
- Law Department of the University of Trento
Organized by Generazioni Future and the IUC of Turin, this important conference on common goods and the right to housing brought together scholars, activists, and policymakers to explore innovative institutional solutions for social housing. Among the many excellent contributions, Ugo Mattei selected Professor Vergara's intervention to highlight the critical lessons from Chile's constitutional experience.
The discussion addresses:
- The failure of the Chilean constitutional process to enshrine housing rights
- The power of grassroots housing movements in Chile
- The commons as an alternative framework for housing policy
- Lessons for European housing struggles
About the Conference: This event is part of the IUC's ongoing research on the commons, institutional alternatives, and social justice. The conference explores how common goods frameworks can offer innovative solutions to the housing crisis affecting cities worldwide.