The Olympic Games have displaced more than two million people in the last 20 years, disproportionately affecting the homeless, the poor, and minorities such as Roma and African-Americans, according to COHRE's report Fair Play for Housing Rights: Mega-Events, Olympic Games and Housing Rights. 

The number of people affected by housing rights violations in the context of mega-events such as the Olympic Games is staggering: 

• Seoul 1988: 720,000 people were forcibly evicted from their homes in preparation for the Olympic Games in 1988. 
• Barcelona 1992: housing became so unaffordable as a result of the Olympic Games that low income earners were forced to leave the city. 
• Atlanta 1996: 9,000 arrest citations were issued to homeless persons, mostly racial minorities, as part of an Olympics-inspired campaign to, quote, “clean the streets”, unquote.  Additionally, some 30,000 persons were displaced in Atlanta by Olympics-related gentrification and development.  
• Athens 2004: hundreds of Roma residents were displaced under the pretext of Olympics-related preparations.  
• In the lead up to the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing, over 1.25 million people were displaced due to Olympics-related urban redevelopment.  

In this section, you can download COHRE's report Fair Play for Housing Rights: Mega-Events, Olympic Games and Housing Rights, and the associated Multi-stakeholder Guidelines, as well as other media information; download background research papers on past and future Olympic cities; find information on grassroots organisations that work or have worked on the protection of housing rights in the context of mega-events; and download presentations that were made at a COHRE expert workshop on mega-events and housing rights. 

The report and associated Multi-stakeholder Guidelines are available on the dedicated COHRE Report on Mega-Events page.

Background research papers on past and future Olympic host cities are available on the dedicated Olympic City Background Papers page.

Presentations from the COHRE expert workshop held in Geneva (14-15 June 2007) on mega-events and housing rights are available on the COHRE Mega-Events Workshop page.

Resources: Past Olympic Host Cities contains links to grassroots organisations that work for the protection of housing rights in past Olympic host cities, as well as other information on host cities.

Resources: Upcoming Olympic Host Cities contains links to grassroots organisations that work for the protection of housing rights in host cities of upcoming Olympic Games, as well as other information on host cities.

Resources: Upcoming Mega-Events contains links to grassroots organisations that work for the protection of housing rights in host cities of upcoming mega-events.