The legal status of the right to adequate housing is based on the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and various international human rights treaties. The general comments of the UN treaty bodies provide an official interpretation of the rights and obligations enshrined in these international human rights treaties.

International humanitarian law and international criminal law also prohibit certain violations of the right to adequate housing. The right to adequate housing has also been specified in regional human rights law, in UN declarations adopted by the UN General Assembly, and in international labor standards. Based on these human rights standards, the UN Special Rapporteur on the right to adequate housing and other human rights experts have developed specific guidelines on development-based evictions, security of tenure and for application of the right to adequate housing.