HUMAN RIGHTS is the foundation
TURN's mission is to educate and organize tenants to promote housing as a human right. This is motivated by the belief that everyone is entitled to a decent place to live regardless of his or her social status or circumstances.
A decent place to live is one which is safe and sanitary, not necessarily spacious or fancy.
Decent housing does not make you sick or put you or your family in physical danger. It is of sufficient size that you are not forced to be overcrowded. It provides the basic human necessities of privacy and security. Laws protecting tenants bring us closer to this goal.
Universal Declaration of Human Rights
Article 25:
(1) Everyone has the right to a standard of living adequate for the health and well-being of himself and of his family, including food, clothing, housing and medical care and necessary social services, and the right to security in the event of unemployment, sickness, disability, widowhood, old age or other lack of livelihood in circumstances beyond his control.
A summary of existing landlord tenant law in Philadelphia can be found in TURN's Tenant Bill of Rights.