Migraciones (Oct 2014)
The «suitability» criteria implemented on the migrant’s housing rights: a changeable geometry
Abstract
The universal scope of the suitable concept and the minimal content of housing rights has been developed by the Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights. However, such a concretion, considering the Spanish case, has been implemented from a changeable dimension. On the one hand, the juridical irresolution of suitability criterion has been solved according to technical indicators and, on the other, under the migratory context , such parameters have been extended according to the administrative situation and the aim of the entrance. This paper tries to point out the underlying controversies on the scope of the criterion when the immigrant is accepted as a productive element (guest workers) or as a reproductive element (head of household). In the first case, the right to housing is not only limited or denied; the absence of a suitable housing is even tolerated. In the second case, this right is subject to rules of the family reunification process