The National Right to Housing Network, the Canadian Centre for Housing Rights, and Professor Sarah Buhler at the University of Saskatchewan are proud to partner on a research project exploring a human rights and youth-centred approach to eviction law and practice, with the aim of reducing youth evictions and taking seriously the lived expertise, human rights, and unique circumstances of youth.
In Canada, children and youth experience eviction from rental housing at higher rates than most other age groups. Eviction is particularly damaging for youth because of its long-term consequences and propensity to entangle youth with other systems. Eviction into homelessness is also a violation of international human rights law. Yet Canadian eviction laws do not reflect human rights obligations or account for the unique experiences and vulnerabilities of youth. Instead, tribunals often function as “eviction machines.”
Using a human rights and youth-centred lens, this project will explore the following three research questions:
- Access to justice: How can eviction law and processes become more accessible to youth? What types of information and supports will empower youth to participate in eviction hearings?
- Eviction decision-making: What materials can be developed to encourage eviction decision-makers to consider the human rights and unique circumstances of youth?
- Eviction legislation: What legislative reforms can be made to ensure that the human rights of youth are considered in eviction processes?
Research insights
Preventing Youth Evictions in Canada: Building a Framework Based in International Human Rights
Keeping Youth Housed: Preventing Youth Evictions Through Law
Preventing Evictions: What Youth Want Landlords, Lawmakers & Eviction Adjudicators to Know
Workshops
Meaningful engagement is a critical part of a human rights-based approach to addressing systemic housing issues. In the spring of 2024, housing and youth advocates and youth with lived expertise in Toronto and Saskatoon joined workshops to engage in our research. This report provides a real-life example of what meaningful engagement looks like in practice.
Workshop report:
The report outlines our methodology behind the workshops and how we meaningfully engaged with participants as they shared their stories and ideas on how a world without eviction could look like.
Policy recommendations
We are urging the Federal Housing Advocate to lead a review on the issue of youth evictions, and develop recommendations for the federal government to address. Our recommendations aim to support the development of a re-imagined and transformed approach to eviction and tenant legal systems rooted in commitments to prevent eviction and uphold human rights.
Acknowledgements
This work is funded by Making the Shift Youth Homelessness Social Innovation Lab (MtS), a member of the Government of Canada’s Networks of Centres of Excellence program. Making the Shift funds, conducts, prototypes, and mobilizes cutting-edge research to prevent and end youth homelessness in Canada.