Mental health counseling and adequate housing is a human right

Mental health counseling and adequate housing is a human right

By Kelly Gil

Expensive housing can lead to a decline in mental health for lots of people. Mental health affects housing and vice versa. In a research article, “Poor Housing is bad for you Mental Health,” argues that “33%(equivalent to 15 million people) says housing costs are causing stress or depression in their family; 25% ( equivalent to 12.2 million people) are kept awake at night by the stress of paying their rent and mortgage”, the stress they feel is a consequence of lack of resources they have in housing.

The economic struggles faced make it not possible for them to be able to access good housing or mental health counseling. In the Universal Declaration of Human Rights housing is declared a human right, but it isn’t given or protected, a house became a commodity, not a right. In “Naming Housing as a Human Right Is a First Step To Solving the Housing Crisis” states “Housing is critical to many other facets of life, including physical and mental health, quality of life, access to education, economic outcomes among many others”, if our house right is recognized people could have a better life by receiving the help they need. Our first step is getting our rights recognized and then making mental health counseling accessible for everyone.

Kelly Gil is a student attending Sonoma State University.