Leilani Farha

Leilani Farha is the former UN Special Rapporteur on the Right to Housing and the Global Director of The Shift. Her work is animated by the principle that housing is a social good, not a commodity. Leilani has helped develop global human rights standards on the right to housing, including through her topical reports on homelessness, the financialization of housing, informal settlements, rights-based housing strategies, and the first UN Guidelines for the implementation of the right to housing....See more

Leilani Farha is the former UN Special Rapporteur on the Right to Housing and the Global Director of The Shift. Her work is animated by the principle that housing is a social good, not a commodity. Leilani has helped develop global human rights standards on the right to housing, including through her topical reports on homelessness, the financialization of housing, informal settlements, rights-based housing strategies, and the first UN Guidelines for the implementation of the right to housing. She is the central character in the documentary PUSH regarding the financialization of housing, which has been screening around the world. Leilani launched The Shift in 2017 with the UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights and the organization United Cities and Local Government. See less