Protection of the Housing Right in the United States and Japan:Revelations for China

The right of housing is an important and basic right of the United Nations civil rights.Our country signed International Covenant on economic,social and cultural rights in 1997,joined in 2001,and committed to fulfill the housing right of citizens.But till now,we have not developed any laws about housing right protection.Because of house prices rising and as one of the legislative plan of National People's Congress in recent years,scholars pay more attention to housing rights.Experiences and lessons of the United States and Japan show that the fulfillment of housing rights by the effort of citizen's-self is not enough,we must learn from developed countries,take responsibility of international obligations in accordance with China's national conditions.And we must improve the obligation of the government to protect citizens' housing right into legal obligations,and determine responsibilities of state and government by laws.By those two ways,we can promote citizens' housing right.In this paper,we will analyze the case law system of the United States and statutory law system of Japan and discuss the way to protect the housing right of our citizens.