Adequate housing size as an element of the right to housing

Abstract

We provide a legally-grounded and theoretically-oriented approach to the question of how large a home needs to be for it to count as adequate from the point of view of the right to housing. We propose that a rich understanding of the reasons for which there is such a right generates a framework to think about what housing needs to be like in order to count as adequate, and we suggest how this framework might help us to think about some questions about the physical characteristics and size of adequate housing. Using this framework, we consider the viability of various existing standards with particular attention to the case of Toronto, Canada, as an illustration.