Dealing with high rents, low wages

After a high-profile campaign, which turned the plight of the homeless into an election issue, French Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin vowed recently to introduce a new law that would make housing an enforceable right, like education and health care. Those who want to be off the street would be able to sue the government to have that right met. The French law is modelled after Scotland’s legally enforceable right to housing.

In the U.S., more than 200 American cities and counties have pledged to abolish homelessness by arranging apartments for people instead of just finding them homeless shelters and food. [story]