FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Toronto, ON – February 18, 2021 – Housing advocates across the country assert that there is an important role the federal government can play to advance the right to housing and to ensure that no one loses their home during the pandemic.
A group of over 120 experts from diverse backgrounds – including tenant groups and associations, academics, advocates, and people with lived experience with eviction and homelessness – have come together and concluded that the National Housing Strategy Act (NHSA) provides the federal government with an avenue through which it can directly address the arrears and evictions crisis facing residential tenants.
Through this collaboration, a new proposal to provide tenants with rental assistance to pay off arrears accumulated as a result of an unaffordable rent-to-income ratio during the pandemic has been submitted to the federal government by the Canadian Centre for Housing Rights (CCHR) and the National Right to Housing Network (NRHN), for consideration in its 2021 budget consultation process that is currently underway.
Under the proposed Residential Tenant Support Benefit, tenants who meet the qualification criteria would receive a benefit payment to restore their rent-to-income ratio and reduce their 2020 rent burden back to the level that they were paying prior to the pandemic.
Across the country, tens of thousands of residential tenants have lost their jobs and incomes, have struggled to pay unaffordable rent for months, and are now facing eviction. The number of people at risk of losing their home because of unpaid rent, known as ‘arrears’, has reached a crisis level.
While the federal government has acted to prevent eviction of commercial tenants during the pandemic, minimal action has been taken to address the plight of residential tenants.
The NHSA affirms that the Government of Canada recognizes the right to housing as a fundamental human right, and commits to progressively realize this right over time – and there has never been a more urgent moment for the federal government to take the next steps to support tenants.
“We need all of our governments to address this crisis with urgency and with appropriate resources,” said Alyssa Brierley, Executive Director of CCHR. “The federal government has already made a
commitment to realize the right to housing. Now it’s time to put that commitment into action to make sure that no Canadian is faced with losing their home during the pandemic.”
Eviction is a serious assault on dignity, security and may place health and life at risk. Through prompt intervention, the federal government can help vulnerable Canadians to avoid eviction, displacement and personal catastrophe.
“I am a person who has not only experienced lengthy homelessness, I also suffered housing loss 2 years later while also having the responsibility of caring for my partner who suffered with mental health disabilities,” said Al Wiebe, Co-Chair of the Canadian Lived Experience Leadership Network and Director of Programming at Of No Fixed Address. “The trauma is over-whelming. One cannot underestimate the terror that eviction brings.”
Those at risk are some of the most vulnerable individuals and households: low-income individuals, many of whom are the “front-line heroes” praised by all levels of government throughout the pandemic, persons with disabilities, Black, Indigenous and other persons of colour, newcomers to Canada and other individuals, often with intersecting barriers to full participation in Canadian society.
“In the north temperatures can reach down to -50 or more. There needs to be another solution so that we are not evicting people and causing more homelessness in Canada’s Arctic,” said Janine Harvey, a Steering Committee member of the National Right to Housing Network Steering Committee. “Homelessness contributes to poverty, poor hygiene, social issues such as suicide, and a lack of interest for education and work.”
The submission by CCHR and NRHN is a concrete and comprehensive proposal that details the qualification criteria, application process, how funds could be transferred, and a sample calculation to determine the benefit amount based on a rent-to-income ratio case study. It now sits with the federal government to review and take up in its 2021 budget.
Quick facts:
- Right to housing legislation was enacted on June 21, 2019 as part of the National Housing Strategy Act, and recognizes housing as a fundamental human right as it is defined under international human rights law.
- The act includes mechanisms to receive and investigate submissions from affected groups on systemic issues and report to the responsible Minister on findings and recommended measures for the progressive realization of the right to housing.
- The threat facing thousands of tenants facing eviction and the need for financial assistance to pay off arears for unaffordable rents during the pandemic is a systemic problem that engages the commitments of the federal government under the National Housing Strategy Act.
- The Canadian Centre for Housing Rights (CCHR) is Canada’s oldest charity working to advance the right to housing through services for tenants facing eviction or a human rights violation in their housing, advocacy and educational programming, and policy and law reform.
- The National Right to Housing Network (NRHN) is a group of over 300 organizations and individuals dedicated to the meaningful implementation of the right to housing in Canada through the advancement of the National Housing Strategy Act.
Media contact:
Shelley Buckingham
Senior Advisor – Communications and Public Affairs, Canadian Centre for Housing Rights
Tel: 416-944-0087
Email: shelley [at] equalityrights.org