Housing and Social Rights

Our goal is to achieve just and equitable laws and their implementation focusing on housing, social rights, regulations on housing by the state and municipalities, access to social allowances, and registration of addresses. 

• In our earlier “Punitive Municipalities” project we reviewed the decrees of all Budapest district municipalities on rental housing, social support and the ones regulating community life. Through this we exposed how municipalities criminalize certain behaviors, make access to social support unnecessarily or discriminatively difficult, which can have further negative impact on the social and housing situation. Beyond the criticisms, we designed an alternative model decree, in which we formulated the regulations of the imaginary “Free city” on community life in a way that allows the local community to live together based on equality, justice, inclusion and transparency. We distributed the review of the existing municipal decrees and the model decree to several local municipalities.

• The goal of our current “TranspaRent” project was to make municipal social housing systems more transparent and just, in cooperation with the municipalities if possible. In Budapest, 23 districts and the Municipality of Budapest have developed their housing policies without cooperating with each other, so there are 24 different regulatory frameworks in force. We examined the decrees and housing application systems of all municipalities and compiled a Problem Map, followed by a Guide for drafting municipal housing regulations. Our aim was to ensure that as many municipalities as possible consider our proposals in their policy. The  SLA provided professional assistance in the form of consultations and workshops and it has had cooperation agreements with eight districts in Budapest and also one with the Municipality of Budapest. 

• We are representing several people before court against an investment company that tripled the rent from one day to the next to push the tenants from their homes. This is not an isolated case, as the SLA's legal aid service has experienced a lot of cases stemming from a regulatory loophole of the Hungarian Tenancy Act. This is why we decided to set up a new project to analyze the problem of the tenancy of people living in previously state-owned flats.

• In the run-up to the general elections in 2022, we put together and disseminated to the parties a policy paper on social rights and housing that are essential to be among the first changes made by the new Parliament elected.

• In May, we held a legal aid marathon with the participation of 16 lawyers as the moratorium on evictions drew to a close.The number of people asking for legal advice usually increases before the end of the moratorium.

• This November, we issued an analysis on the amendment of the Social Act, which will dissolve the last elements of the Hungarian welfare state. We also analyzed the Municipality of Budapest’s strategy on homelessness and the housing decree of District VIII of Budapest. 

• We are constantly monitoring and making recommendations on social benefits, including  pension minimum, which has remained unchanged since 2008, while the cost of living is still increasing.

Equality Before the Law in Practice

Our goal is to achieve the actual legal equality of all, especially that of homeless people and people living in bad and insecure housing, stepping up against their discrimination, criminalization, and for more just regulations on misdemeanors, the pandemic situation, judicial enforcement, and their fair and lawful implementation. 

• Since its introduction, the SLA informs about and protests against the laws criminalizing habitual use of public spaces. In the months following the entry into force of the criminalization provision, SLA provided a 24-hours phone hotline for victims of the criminalization and disseminated a manual for attorneys who took on such cases. Additionally, we sought out and assisted individuals who fell victim to the criminalization, representing them in court in many cases. We convinced the court to turn to the Constitutional Court requesting the law’s review. 

• We have launched a project for fairer debt collection procedures, which aims to change enforcement rules and practices. During the project, we have petitioned the Commissioner for Fundamental Rights to review the Enforcement Act because we think that some of its provisions are unconstitutional and seriously disadvantage the debtor. In addition, we have filed amicus briefs in debt collection cases to the Hungarian Constitutional Court.

• We stood up against institutional violence inflicted on poor people, especially homeless people. We requested the Commissioner for Fundamental Rights to investigate how it could be possible for police in Mohács (a small town in the South of Hungary) to frequently assault homeless people over a long period of time with impunity.  In the ongoing criminal procedure, we also give legal representation to the homeless person who was beaten by the police.

• We analyzed an amendment to the Enforcement Act. We have also previously assessed the amendment to the Code of Civil Procedure and have turned to the National Office for the Judiciary calling for parties acting without legal representation to be duly informed on their rights.

• We have turned to the Constitutional Court in the case of a hearing-impaired man who was fined HUF 50,000 by the VI District Police for begging during the World Eucharistic Congress. Our aim is to have the Constitutional Court rule that the punishment for begging without disturbing others is unconstitutional.

• We brought a case before the Constitutional Court against a refugee couple persecuted for their Christianity in their home country, who were fined for violating curfew restrictions, for violation of the right to use their mother tongue.

• The SLA is representing activists at court who are charged with vandalism for raising public awareness with pavement painting about the lack of free public toilets in Budapest while urinating in public is penalized. 

• In our earlier “Punitive Municipalities” project we reviewed the decrees of all Budapest district municipalities on rental housing, social support and the ones regulating community life. Through this we exposed how municipalities criminalize certain behaviors, make access to social support unnecessarily or discriminatively difficult, which can have further negative impact on the social and housing situation. Beyond the criticisms, we designed an alternative model decree, in which we formulated the regulations of the imaginary “Free city” on community life in a way that allows the local community to live together based on equality, justice, inclusion and transparency. We distributed the review of the existing municipal decrees and the model decree to several local municipalities.

• The goal of our current “TranspaRent” project was to make municipal social housing systems more transparent and just, in cooperation with the municipalities if possible. In Budapest, 23 districts and the Municipality of Budapest have developed their housing policies without cooperating with each other, so there are 24 different regulatory frameworks in force. We examined the decrees and housing application systems of all municipalities and compiled a Problem Map, followed by a Guide for drafting municipal housing regulations. Our aim was to ensure that as many municipalities as possible consider our proposals in their policy. The  SLA provided professional assistance in the form of consultations and workshops and it has had cooperation agreements with eight districts in Budapest and also one with the Municipality of Budapest. 

• We are representing several people before court against an investment company that tripled the rent from one day to the next to push the tenants from their homes. This is not an isolated case, as the SLA's legal aid service has experienced a lot of cases stemming from a regulatory loophole of the Hungarian Tenancy Act. This is why we decided to set up a new project to analyze the problem of the tenancy of people living in previously state-owned flats.

• In the run-up to the general elections in 2022, we put together and disseminated to the parties a policy paper on social rights and housing that are essential to be among the first changes made by the new Parliament elected.

• In May, we held a legal aid marathon with the participation of 16 lawyers as the moratorium on evictions drew to a close.The number of people asking for legal advice usually increases before the end of the moratorium.

• This November, we issued an analysis on the amendment of the Social Act, which will dissolve the last elements of the Hungarian welfare state. We also analyzed the Municipality of Budapest’s strategy on homelessness and the housing decree of District VIII of Budapest. 

• We are constantly monitoring and making recommendations on social benefits, including  pension minimum, which has remained unchanged since 2008, while the cost of living is still increasing.

Strengthening the ability of homeless people and people living in poverty to understand and exercise their rights

Our goal is to enhance the legal awareness, legal empowerment and the ability of homeless people and people living in bad or insecure housing to represent their own interests. We create and disseminate information materials and videos making laws and their practice easy to understand, and hold capacity-building and training events.   

• ​​Together with the Hungarian Forum for the Cooperation of Trade Unions, we organized a series of online legal training sessions for trade union members. As a result of the project, more than 100 people learned about housing, labour law, debt management and social rights.

• We participated in an awareness programme for families with workshops and lectures for adults and children. The families will be able to move into the social rental apartments of the apartment building on Mexikói út, which was renovated by the municipality of Zugló in the framework of the More than Housing project, in the middle of next year.

• Every month we collect and publish calls for housing applications shared by municipalities on our website.

• As the moratorium on evictions expires, we have prepared a guide on how to write an application for a stay of eviction. We have also written a series of guides on renting and letting flats, and published a compilation of frequently asked questions about the moratorium.