This paper advances a normative argument that secure access to housing is essential to human well-being and should be treated as a basic freedom, comparable in importance to the right to property. It begins by briefly clarifying why rights matter and how they frame the paper’s inquiry. The discussion then develops the idea of housing as a freedom right, drawing on contributions from theorists such as Jeremy Waldron and Martha Nussbaum. At the core of the argument is the claim that basic human functioning depends on one’s living conditions: without adequate housing, people cannot reliably pursue fundamental activities or sustain a dignified standard of life. From this standpoint, housing is not simply a market good but a prerequisite for human flourishing. The paper closes by outlining the policy implications of recognizing housing in this way, calling for a reorientation of housing policy toward rights-based implementation that better enables dignified living and social participation.