The Right to Housing for Disabled People is a research project led by the Canadian Centre for Housing Rights in partnership with housing and disability researchers, organizations and advocates from across Canada.
Barriers to realizing the right to housing for disabled people* are largely unexplored, making it difficult to understand why a significant proportion of people experiencing homelessness have disabilities. To address this gap, this project aims to develop a research agenda on discrimination and the right to housing for people with disabilities in Canada, with the goal of helping them overcome the significant barriers they face when trying to realize this right.
The project will bring together partners from a range of sectors including people with lived experience, universities, non-profit organizations, housing providers, developers and decision-makers. Through building research networks, knowledge exchanges and capacity building, data gathering and analysis, and creating and sharing knowledge among these partners, the project will identify how discrimination and the denial of appropriate housing can be overcome through additional supports for disabled people, as well as changes to policy and legislation.
The research is being conducted through a critical lens and uses the social model of disability. The social model locates disability and disablement in societal attitudes and structures rather than minds and bodies. From this perspective, housing systems in Canada should be set up in a way that are not exclusionary toward or restrictive of people with disabilities, especially with such a basic right as housing. The project also adopts a human rights model that recognizes disability as a natural part of human diversity that needs to be respected and supported in all its forms. According to this model, disabled people have the same rights as everyone else in society, and disability must not be used as an excuse to deny or restrict people’s rights.
Finally, we use a disability justice framework that moves beyond legal and political rights. Disability justice is intersectional and inclusive, led by those who are most oppressed. Ableism is understood as inextricably intertwined with heteropatriarchy, white supremacy, colonialism, and capitalism.
Supporting and empowering people with disabilities with appropriate housing in a non-discriminatory manner involves a range of interventions, including eviction diversion and prevention, housing stabilization, income supports, and a range of accessible housing opportunities.
Toward that end, this project has three broad research questions:
The Government of Canada’s historic 2019 National Housing Strategy Act (NHSA) legislated the right to housing in Canada. This aligned Canada with United Nations covenants that guarantee the progressive realization of the right to adequate housing. It developed a National Housing Strategy (NHS) that commits Canada to progressively realize the right to housing by implementing policies that will improve housing conditions and affordability across the country. Joining a small handful of countries with rights-based housing legislation, the NHSA set Canada apart as a global leader. However, leaders must have their house in order.
Implementing the right to housing implicates issues such as the availability of accessible housing and the supports required by people with disabilities to remain housed, the availability and appropriateness of income supports to sustain tenancy arrangements, and fair adjudicative processes surrounding evictions. However, barriers to the right to housing for disabled people are largely unexplored. This historical gap in research and analysis makes it difficult to ascertain why a significant proportion of people experiencing homelessness have disabilities. The timing could not be more urgent given the broader housing and cost-of-living crisis in Canada, which disproportionately affects disabled people.
This research project addresses a major empirical gap by investigating the varying experiences of discrimination faced by people with disabilities and the way they overcome discriminatory barriers in four Canadian provinces – Nova Scotia, Ontario, Manitoba, and British Columbia. The goal of this project is to make a major contribution to a research agenda concerning the right to housing for disabled people and how ongoing experiences of discrimination are preventing people with disabilities from realizing their right to housing in Canada.
There is limited documentation, data and peer-reviewed research on the housing experiences of disabled people in Canada. Our annotated bibliography is the first comprehensive collection of grey literature on the right to housing for disabled people in Canada. However, most existing English-language research on disability and housing is from the United States, the United Kingdom, continental Europe, and Australia.
Research that does exist has only begun to grapple with the rights of disabled people to access housing and has pointed to the importance of mapping the structural and real-life barriers they face when securing affordable and adequate housing.
Meanwhile, people with disabilities face numerous forms of discrimination when securing appropriate housing. These include housing design and construction (the general accessibility and adaptability of the physical environment), the availability and presentation of information on housing options, the economic factors that affect access to housing (including general affordability and the ability to secure housing finance), and the role of various actors involved in the process of building, selling, and allocating housing.
The limited and anecdotal evidence that does exist points to important problems but is decidedly inadequate for robust decision-making in programming and policymaking. This evidential gap is consequential and a research agenda that spans both academia and community research organizations is urgently needed to guide evidence and knowledge-building.
The Right to Housing for Disabled People project agenda is constructed according to a three-part framing of the problem of discrimination:
Across this framing, the research agenda we are constructing examines the right to housing through perspectives including:
This project promotes an understanding of the right to housing as described in Canadian and international law. It adopts a human rights model, the social model of disability, and a disability justice framework, critically exploring the mechanisms of law and policy related to housing, disability, social justice, and the lived experience of marginalized and disadvantaged groups who experience discrimination. As such, our theoretical approaches are rooted in the “right to housing” concept.
International law commits national governments to respecting, protecting, and realizing the right to adequate housing within their countries. International law defines the right to housing according to seven key components: affordability, security of tenure, accessibility, habitability, location, cultural adequacy and availability of services, facilities, and infrastructure.
From a right to housing perspective, homelessness is a gross violation of the right to housing, and governments must do everything within their power to prevent homelessness amongst their population. Losing one’s home is a key pathway to homelessness, and viewed from a right to housing perspective, eviction violates the right to housing by removing security of tenure. By incorporating a right to housing lens, this research will examine why, and in what ways, existing policies and adjudicative processes may violate the right to housing of people with disabilities in Canada. It will also point to solutions that strengthen the right to housing and prevent homelessness for disabled people.
Updates and findings from this project will be shared on this page. Please check again soon or sign up to CCHR’s newsletter to receive email updates.
A note on terminology
* The use of “person-first” language (people with disabilities) vs. “identity-first” language (disabled people) is contentious within disability communities. Identity-first language is generally preferred by contemporary disability activists as it places the focus on societal barriers (i.e., disabled people are disabled by society). However, some others, especially people labelled with an intellectual disability, tend to prefer person-first language. We have used both forms in this paper to respect the preferences of members of these various communities.
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Since 2000, November 22nd has been recognized as National Housing Day in Canada – a day to reflect on the importance of housing to everyone and to raise awareness of the human right to housing.
Despite the decades of tireless advocacy efforts by diverse communities across the country, unfortunately, Canada’s housing and homelessness crises have only gotten worse since the inaugural National Housing Day.
Renters are among the hardest hit by the housing crisis, which threatens their right to secure, affordable and adequate housing. Across the country, renters struggle to find and keep homes they can afford. The most recent data shows that over 20 per cent of renters are in core housing need, meaning they are unable to find good homes that cost less than 30 per cent of their income and are currently living in homes that are overcrowded, in major disrepair, or which are unaffordable. Many groups are disproportionately affected and face higher than average rates of core housing need, in particular Indigenous people, women-led families, newcomers, lone-parents, racialized individuals, and people with disabilities.
Despite the depth of the housing crisis, policy measures and investments in deeply affordable housing have failed to meet the need.
Provincial and territorial housing laws are a patchwork, leaving renters across Canada without the same protections against excessive rent increases, arbitrary evictions, discrimination and other measures to help secure their right to housing. Recognizing the need and in response to the outcry of renters demanding their rights, the federal government introduced a Blueprint for a Renters’ Bill of Rights in September 2024, which outlines a “policy approach for fair and well-functioning renting systems” that aims to align with the right to adequate housing. The document makes it clear that all orders of government in Canada bear a responsibility for fulfilling the right to housing by investing in affordable housing. It also recognizes the need to strengthen current renter protections. Unfortunately, the Renters’ Bill of Rights lacks teeth to raise the standard of rights and protections for renters across the country.
On November 20, hundreds of people from across Canada joined our National Panel Discussion to build a renter-led vision for the Renters’ Bill of Rights.
Speakers from the National Right to Housing Network (NRHN), the Accelerating Accessibility Coalition (AAC), the National Association of Friendship Centres (NAFC), ACORN Canada and the Canadian Centre for Housing Rights (CCHR) outlined what the government could do to better protect renters through a stronger and more robust Renters’ Bill of Rights.
Michèle Biss, National Director of NRHN, highlighted that Canada has an obligation under international human rights law to realize the right to adequate housing and that the Renters’ Bill of Rights is an opportunity for all orders of government in Canada to enact concrete measures in line with those obligations.
The right to adequate housing includes the right of everyone to homes which are accessible, safe, adequate and affordable, where they can live in security, peace, and with dignity. The need for accessible housing for the more than 25 per cent of Canadians with disabilities was underscored by Nikoletta Erdelyi, of Spinal Cord Injury Ontario and AAC.
Gaelle Mushyirahamwe of NAFC explained the colonial roots of the housing crisis for Indigenous renters and called for Indigenous-led housing policies to end the dire housing problems facing Indigenous peoples, including discrimination in the rental market.
Renters are continuing to come together to assert their rights. Tanya Burkart of ACORN Canada shared her experience working with other low and moderate income renters to oppose the financialization of housing and press governments for rent regulation and other measures to protect renters.
Attendees of the panel described the many challenges they face as renters, including discrimination and harassment by landlords, threats of eviction, and rents that continue to rise out of reach. They also highlighted the need for strong and immediate action by our governments to protect renters’ right to housing.
CCHR has been working hard to ensure that the same priorities outlined by the speakers and attendees of our National Panel Discussion were reflected in the Renters’ Bill of Rights. Before its release, we worked with housing advocates across Canada to develop recommendations to guide the development of the Renters’ Bill of Rights. We called on the federal government to take a human rights-based approach that reflected the key elements of the right to housing, backed by protections for renters and investments in truly affordable housing. We also emphasized that these rights must be enforced and upheld with clear accountability mechanisms and that they must apply to all renters across the country.
More than ever, renters need policies and protections that can ensure that everyone in Canada, regardless of where they live, has an adequate, accessible, and affordable place to call home. A stronger Renters’ Bill of Rights could help make that a reality – but only if it truly reflects renters’ experiences and is grounded in the human right to housing.
As we move forward into 2025, we will continue to work with renters and housing advocates across the country to improve the Renters’ Bill of Rights and give renters something to celebrate next year, on the 25th anniversary of National Housing Day.
We hope you join us. Sign up to receive updates about how you can get involved.
Depuis l’an 2000, le 22 novembre est reconnu comme la Journée nationale de l’habitation au Canada – une journée de réflexion autour de l’importance du logement pour tous et de sensibilisation sur le droit au logement.
Malgré des décennies d’efforts de plaidoyer inlassables menés par divers groupes partout au pays, les crises du logement et de l’itinérance au Canada n’ont malheureusement fait qu’empirer depuis la première Journée nationale de l’habitation.
Les locataires sont parmi les plus durement touchés par la crise du logement, qui menace leur droit à un logement adéquat, abordable et sécuritaire. Partout au Canada, les locataires ont du mal à trouver et à conserver des logements qu’ils ont la capacité de payer. Les données les plus récentes montrent que plus de 20 % des locataires ont des besoins impérieux en logement, ce qui signifie qu’ils sont incapables de trouver de bons logements qui coûtent moins de 30% de leur revenu. Le résultat est que les locataires vivent actuellement dans des logements inabordables, surpeuplés ou dans un état de délabrement important. De nombreux groupes sont touchés de façon disproportionnée et font face à des taux plus élevés que la moyenne au niveau des besoins impérieux en logement, en particulier les personnes Autochtones, les familles dirigées par des femmes, les familles monoparentales, les nouveaux arrivants, les personnes racisées et les personnes handicapées.
Malgré l’ampleur de la crise du logement, les mesures gouvernementales et le niveau d’investissements dans les logements à but non-lucratif ne répondent toujours pas aux besoins des locataires.
Les lois provinciales et territoriales sur le logement sont inégales d’une administration à l’autre, et les locataires du Canada ne jouissent pas des mêmes protections contre les augmentations de loyer excessives, les expulsions arbitraires ou la discrimination, et sont laissés sans autres mesures garantir leur droit au logement. Reconnaissant ce besoin, et en réponse à l’indignation des locataires qui réclament leurs droits, le gouvernement fédéral a présenté en septembre 2024 un plan directeur pour une Charte des droits des locataires, qui décrit une « approche stratégique pour la mise en œuvre de régimes de location équitables, efficaces » qui vise à s’aligner sur le droit à un logement adéquat. Le document indique clairement que tous les ordres de gouvernement au Canada ont la responsabilité de réaliser le droit au logement en investissant dans le logement abordable. Il reconnaît également la nécessité de renforcer les protections actuelles des locataires. Malheureusement, la Charte des droits des locataires manque de mordant pour élever les normes relatives aux droits de la personne et pour renforcer les protections pour les locataires à travers le pays.
Le 20 novembre, des centaines de personnes de partout au Canada se sont jointes à notre table ronde nationale pour élaborer une vision conçue par les locataires pour la Charte des droits des locataires.
Des conférenciers du Réseau national pour le droit au logement (RNDL), de l’Accelerating Accessibility Coalition (AAC), de l’Association nationale des centres d’amitié (ANCA), d‘ACORN Canada et du Centre Canadien du droit au logement (CCDL) ont discuté de ce que le gouvernement pourrait faire pour mieux protéger les locataires grâce à une Charte des droits des locataires plus forte et plus robuste.
Michèle Biss, directrice nationale du RNDL, a souligné que, en vertu du droit international, le Canada a l’obligation de réaliser le droit à un logement convenable et que la Charte des droits des locataires est une occasion pour tous les ordres de gouvernement d’adopter des mesures concrètes conformes à ces obligations.
Le droit à un logement convenable comprend le droit de chacun à des logements accessibles, sûrs, adéquats et abordables, où chacun peut vivre dans la sécurité, la paix et la dignité. Le besoin de logements accessibles pour plus de 25 % des Canadiens en situation de handicap a été mis en évidence par Nikoletta Erdelyi, de Lésions médullaires Ontario et de l’AAC.
Gaelle Mushyirahamwe, d’ANCA, a expliqué les racines coloniales de la crise du logement pour les locataires autochtones et a appelé à des politiques de logement menées par les communautés autochtones pour mettre fin aux graves problèmes de logement auxquels sont confrontés les peuples autochtones, y compris la discrimination sur le marché locatif.
Les locataires continuent de se mobiliser pour faire valoir leurs droits. Tanya Burkart d’ACORN Canada a partagé son expérience de travail avec les locataires à faible et modeste revenus pour s’opposer à la financiarisation du logement et faire pression sur les gouvernements pour qu’ils réglementent les loyers et prennent des mesures additionnelles pour protéger les locataires.
Les participants à l’évènement ont décrit les nombreux défis auxquels ils sont confrontés en tant que locataires, comme la discrimination et le harcèlement de la part de certains propriétaires, les menaces d’expulsion et les loyers qui continuent d’augmenter à vitesse vertigineuse. Ils ont également souligné la nécessité d’une action forte et immédiate de la part de nos gouvernements pour protéger le droit au logement des locataires.
Le CCDL a travaillé fort pour s’assurer que les mêmes priorités énoncées par les conférenciers et les participants à notre table ronde nationale étaient reflétées dans la Charte des droits des locataires. Avant sa publication, nous nous sommes concertés avec des défenseurs du droit au logement de tout le pays pour formuler des recommandations afin d’orienter l’élaboration de la Charte des droits des locataires. Nous avons demandé au gouvernement fédéral d’adopter une approche fondée sur les droits de la personne qui reflète les éléments clés du droit au logement, appuyée par des protections pour les locataires et des investissements dans des logements véritablement abordables. Nous avons également insisté sur le fait que ces droits doivent être appliqués et respectés au l’aide de mécanismes de responsabilisation clairs et qu’ils doivent s’appliquer à tous les locataires du pays.
Plus que jamais, les locataires ont besoin de politiques et de protections qui peuvent faire en sorte que tout le monde au Canada ait un logement adéquat, accessible et abordable, peu importe où ils vivent. Une Charte des droits des locataires plus forte pourrait aider à faire de cette vision une réalité, mais seulement si elle reflète vraiment les expériences vécues des locataires et est fondée sur le droit humain au logement.
Alors que nous nous apprêtons à amorcer l’an 2025, nous continuerons de travailler avec les locataires et les défenseurs du droit au logement à travers le pays pour améliorer la Charte des droits des locataires et donner aux locataires quelque chose à célébrer l’année prochaine, à l’occasion du 25e anniversaire de la Journée nationale de l’habitation.
Nous espérons que vous vous joindrez à nous. Inscrivez-vous pour recevoir des mises à jour sur la façon dont vous pouvez vous impliquer.
The Canadian Centre for Housing Rights (CCHR) partnered with CT Labs and several local partners in Saskatoon on a project funded by the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC) Solutions Lab, to understand and estimate hidden homelessness in Saskatoon.
Hidden homelessness is experienced by many people across the country, but there has been great difficulty in understanding the extent of the problem as it is an invisible form of homelessness. CCHR developed a pilot project in Saskatoon to understand and enumerate hidden homelessness, in order to better serve the housing needs of those who are invisibly unhoused. Using Saskatoon as a case study, the project produced a framework for estimating the scope of hidden homelessness and developing effective solutions, that can be used by policymakers and service providers in similar urban centers across Canada. To do this, we brought together stakeholders from across Saskatoon’s housing system to capture the journeys of those experiencing hidden homelessness and co-develop innovative strategies for collecting data to create evidence-based solutions.
The Understanding and Estimating Hidden Homelessness in Saskatoon project received funding from Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC) under the NHS Solutions Labs, however, the views expressed are the personal views of the author and CMHC accepts no responsibility for them.
CMHC’s Solutions Labs are an innovative approach to tackling complex societal challenges that cannot be solved by one organization or sector. Using bottom-up collaboration, they provide a safe space for diverse perspectives to come together, for assumptions to be questioned, and for community-based solutions to be created. They are one of the tools under the National Housing Strategy being used to inform decision-making at all levels of government.
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:
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
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.
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.
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.
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.
The Canadian Centre for Housing Rights (CCHR) partnered with the Women’s National Housing and Homelessness Network (WNHHN) and the National Right to Housing Network (NRHN) on a project funded by the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC) Solutions Lab. Started two years ago, the project aimed to develop and prototype national shelter standards that adopt a rights-based and gender-sensitive approach to help improve emergency shelter service delivery.
In Canada, women and gender-diverse people are more likely to have trouble finding a safe and secure place to live, and disproportionately live in core housing need. For those who experience homelessness, they are often denied access to emergency shelters that are operating over capacity and are struggling to meet demand due to chronic underfunding and an increase in housing need. Additionally, certain policies, rules and practices in emergency shelters may lead to people being turned away, separated from their children or unable to access supports.
These issues can have devastating impacts on women and gender-diverse persons who are in need of shelter services, and present barriers to realizing the right to housing. It is critical that we change the way that emergency shelters are designed so that they align with a rights-based and gender-sensitive approach to housing.
To help address these challenges, this project explored together with lived experts, advocates and shelter providers seeks to identify what shelters in Canada could look like if they were gender-sensitive and aligned with the right to housing. To transform emergency shelter service delivery for women and gender-diverse people, we developed and prototyped national shelter standards that use a rights-based and gender-sensitive approach. These standards can help to better meet the needs of women and gender-diverse people in accessing emergency shelter services.
The development of these Shelter Standards has been a deeply collaborative effort, aiming to create a robust framework that addresses the complex unique challenges faced by women and gender-diverse individuals accessing emergency shelters across Canada.
At each step of the development process, a diverse range of key actors, including people with lived experiences, service providers, human rights experts, and advocacy groups, were extensively engaged. This inclusive approach ensured that the standards reflected a comprehensive understanding of the genuine needs and dynamic realities faced by those accessing emergency shelters.
These Shelter Standards are grounded in a comprehensive framework that merges international human rights principles with a Gender-Based Analysis Plus (GBA+) approach. By drawing from international treaties, human rights frameworks, and best practices, the standards aim to set a high bar for emergency shelter operations while remaining sensitive to the unique needs of diverse gender identities and expressions.
The Standards aim to:
These Shelters Standards will also become a joint submission to the upcoming National Housing Council’s review panel. On May 11th, 2023, the Federal Housing Advocate announced the second human rights-based review panel under the National Housing Strategy Act (NHSA) on the Government of Canada’s failure to prevent and eliminate homelessness amongst women and gender-diverse people, particularly those who are Indigenous.
This review panel process will give people with lived experience of gender-based homelessness and housing precarity—as well as civil society allies—an opportunity to share their experiences and solutions and hold the Government accountable in a way that was not possible before.
This will be the second human rights-based review panel conducted in Canada (the first of which is still ongoing on the issue of the financialization of purpose-built rental housing. These review panels are new oversight and human rights-based accountability mechanisms under Canada’s right-to-housing legislation, the National Housing Strategy Act of 2019.
This project is generously supported by the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC) Solutions Lab.
We would also like to recognize the invaluable contributions of members of the National Advisory Committee of this project, and the many organizations and individuals that have lent their expertise and experience to the development of these standards.
The Canadian Centre for Housing Rights (CCHR) is proud to be partnering with Purpose Analytics and several national partners on an innovative initiative funded by the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC) Housing Supply Challenge. The Low-end of Market Rental (LEMR) Housing Monitor project aims to build an understanding of the scale of and change in affordable housing stock in Canada, through the lens of six major urban centres: Greater Toronto Area, Metro Vancouver, Montreal, Calgary, Winnipeg and Halifax.
A lack of affordable rental housing across the country has resulted in a crisis in many Canadian cities, especially for lower-income renters who face increasing difficulties securing a home they can afford. Despite growing attention paid to this issue, little is currently known about the scale and scope of the existing deeply affordable housing stock in Canada, or about changes taking place at the low-end of the private rental market, which are the most affordable private housing options available to residents. To address this knowledge gap, CCHR and Purpose Analytics developed this project, which seeks to integrate and aggregate existing data related to the loss of units and the displacement of people living in deeply affordable rental housing in urban areas. The project will also evaluate the potential to use these datasets to produce a modelled estimate of how the supply and location of deeply affordable market rental housing is changing over time.
The project produced an online tool called the Low-end of Market Rental (LEMR) Housing Monitor, which presents data on low-end market rental housing. This free and open access tool is available to policy makers, service providers, community advocates and anyone in the general public interested in matters of affordable housing supply. Data has been brought in from various sources including census data, administrative data from local governments and data from community organizations. The goal is to provide accessible, centralized data that can enrich evidence-based decision-making in housing across Canada.
The Low-end of Market Rental (LEMR) Housing Monitor is funded by CMHC’s Housing Supply Challenge, a fund aimed at creating solutions to overcoming barriers to the creation of new housing supply in Canada. The focus of the data-driven round of the challenge is on improving access to data so that it can be utilized in important housing decisions. The Housing Supply Challenge is one way in which Canada’s National Housing Strategy is promoting informed decision-making throughout government.
In the absence of an adequate supply of social and non-profit housing, it is the “low end” of the private rental market where the majority of lower-income renters must seek housing, and it is this supply that appears to be declining the fastest. Deeply affordable rental housing, or low-end of market rentals, represents a critical component of the housing spectrum, providing homes to lower income households where equity-deserving groups are disproportionately represented.
In a 2020 study, housing policy expert Steve Pomeroy found that from 2011 to 2016, for every new affordable unit of housing created in Canada through government funded programs, Canada lost 15 existing affordable private market rental units. Without a baseline understanding of the current state of affordable housing stock in major cities, and no way to monitor change over time, it is currently impossible for decision-makers to actively intervene on issues related to housing supply and to monitor the impact of housing programs and policies. Although some data on these matters exists, it tends to be scattered in various (and sometimes unknown) locations across Canada’s urban and rural municipalities. There is no central point where this information is stored, systematically organized, and shared.
The LEMR Housing Monitor tool was developed as a response to this gap, and will provide a sophisticated tool serving as a central point to access trustworthy data on deeply affordable private market units. The project will also identify possible data gaps in the six urban centres, and assess where the collection of additional and new data may be necessary.
The Low-End of Market Rental (LEMR) project received funding from Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC) under the Housing Supply Challenge. However, the views expressed are the personal views of the author and CMHC accepts no responsibility for them.
The Canadian Centre for Housing Rights undertook a research project from 2023-2024 to deepen an understanding of the relationship between gender-based violence (GBV) and housing insecurity in Ontario, as well as to understand how the province’s housing affordability crisis is impacting the housing experiences of survivors.
The new knowledge produced through this project will help inform policy solutions that can improve the housing conditions of survivors of GBV.
Gender-based violence (GBV) and intimate partner/interpersonal violence (IPV) are pervasive problems in Canada, and there is extensive literature on these issues. However, little is known about the relationship between GBV and housing insecurity. To address this knowledge gap, CCHR examined this relationship and how the housing affordability crisis in Ontario is impacting survivors’ housing experiences in five Ontario communities: Toronto, Ottawa, Peterborough, Thunder Bay and Lanark County.
CCHR undertook a survey with survivors, interviews with service providers and an analysis of housing market conditions in each community under study to illustrate the ways in which the ongoing crisis of housing affordability in Ontario is impacting the housing security of survivors.
Our research report “Nowhere To Go: Gender-based Violence and Housing Insecurity in Ontario” presents a detailed examination of these key findings from our research:
Based on these key findings, CCHR has also developed the following policy recommendations that aim to improve the housing conditions of survivors. Read our report for detailed information about these solutions.
Affordability measures:
Provision of services and supports
Address discrimination
Inclusive and anti-colonialist considerations
This project is generously supported by the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation’s National Housing Strategy Research and Planning Fund.
CCHR would also like to acknowledge the contributions of our advisory council, Dr. Carolyn Whitzman, the Canadian Women’s Foundation and the Woman Abuse Council of Toronto (WomanACT), in informing the project’s methods, in carrying out data collection and in advising this research. CCHR would like to thank Dr. Jewelles Smith of Procne Navigation for her support with this research. CCHR would also like to thank the many individuals working in service provision who took time to participate in an interview and distribute the project’s survey as well as the individuals with lived experience of gender-based violence and related housing insecurity who generously shared their time and expertise to participate in our survey.
This research received ethics approval from the Community Research Ethics Office in Waterloo, Ontario.
By supporting the Secure Homes for Renters campaign and the ongoing work of the Canadian Centre for Housing Rights (CCHR), you can help address the growing issue of housing insecurity faced by countless renters across the country.
It’s no secret that the path to a sustainable solution is a complex one, fraught with historical negligence and systemic challenges. The decline in governmental support and oversight of the housing system over the past decades has directly contributed to the current crisis, leaving countless renters vulnerable to exploitation and insecurity.
However, in the face of this challenging reality, hope prevails – CCHR and its network of over 100 partners across the country stand together, advocating tirelessly for the rights and well-being of renters, offering vital support and resources, and driving critical changes in policy and practice.
At the forefront of this transformative movement is the call for strong rent regulations that ensure fairness and security for all renters. Over the past four decades, provinces have steadily withdrawn from regulations protecting tenants from excessive and unfair rents. While some provinces have retained a measure of protection, more comprehensive and uniform regulations are imperative to protect renters from unjustified rent increases and exploitative practices.
Your support for the Secure Homes for Renters campaign directly contributes to this crucial mission, advocating for the implementation of fundamental protections that safeguard renters’ rights and pave the way for a more equitable housing landscape in our country.
CCHR’s multifaceted approach to tackling the housing crisis encompasses not only immediate interventions but also strategic, data-driven initiatives aimed at fostering lasting change.
Through our Renter Helpline serving Ontario renters, individuals facing eviction and rights violations receive vital legal counsel and support, bolstering their ability to navigate complex housing challenges. Additionally, CCHR’s commitment to public education workshops and community sector training fosters a culture of empowerment and knowledge, equipping both renters and housing providers with the tools needed to secure housing stability.
Moreover, CCHR’s dedication to delivering comprehensive data and research serves as a cornerstone for evidence-based policy recommendations, shedding light on critical gaps in knowledge and advocating for impactful, systemic solutions. By collaborating with local partners and advocating for rights-based housing initiatives, CCHR ignites a movement that transcends individual experiences, mobilizing communities and decision-makers to prioritize the fundamental right to housing for all.
Your support is instrumental in sustaining and expanding the transformative work of the Canadian Centre for Housing Rights. Your contributions enable the organization to continue empowering communities, delivering key research, and advocating for crucial policy changes.
Together, we can build a future where every Canadian has access to a secure and affordable place to call home.
Renters across Canada are in crisis, facing growing housing insecurity due to the high cost and scarcity of housing options that meet their needs. Across the country, the cost of rental housing has increased rapidly over the past decade, and right now, half of renters are worried about being able to pay their rent. When affordable housing options are not available, lower income renters cannot afford other basics like food and medication, and are forced to live in precarious, inadequate and sometimes unsafe housing.
At the Canadian Centre for Housing Rights, we hear these stories every day – renters who are in fear of losing their homes because they cannot afford the latest rent increase, or who are living in poorly maintained or overcrowded homes that put their health at risk, but have nowhere else they can afford to go.
Recent polls show that increasing rental costs and the lack of affordable rental housing is a serious concern for 95% of Canadians. Every day, people across Canada are being pushed out of their homes. This is unacceptable and cannot continue – renters deserve fair rents and basic legal protections, and it’s time for our governments to step in and help ensure all renters can afford the housing they need.
At one time, our governments took a more active role in supporting our housing systems with programs and policies aimed at ensuring that housing remains affordable for Canadians across the income spectrum. From the 1940s to 1970s, governments across Canada played key roles in regulating housing markets and investing in the development of social and purpose-built rental housing. However, beginning in the 1980s and through the 2010s, governments progressively withdrew from their role regulating and investing in housing in the public interest. Their decision to do so has directly contributed to the current housing affordability crisis and growing rates of homelessness.
It is not a coincidence that housing costs and rates of homelessness both grew during the 40-year period when governments scaled back their support and oversight of the housing system. This withdrawal has had many consequences, including rising housing costs, the stalling of construction of rental housing, and greater housing insecurity for low and middle income renters.
Now is the time for our governments to re-engage with the role they once played supporting a healthy housing system that protects renters and ensures they have a secure place to call home. A key way they can do this right now is by ensuring basic protections like rent regulations are in place across the country. Governments have a role to play in regulating businesses to promote healthy markets and protect consumers, and that must extend to rental housing. Currently, although some provincial and territorial laws provide a degree of rent regulation, renters are not adequately protected against excessive rent increases anywhere in Canada.
In the absence of strong laws that regulate rents, private landlords are free to charge rents far higher than what is necessary to cover their expenses and make a reasonable profit. This practice is known as rent gouging, and it’s causing rents to climb excessively across Canada to the point that half of renters are worried about being able to pay their rent. In many places, price gouging laws prohibit businesses from taking advantage of emergencies to overcharge for basic necessities. Yet, even though housing is a basic necessity and a human right, rent gouging is legal everywhere in Canada.
Also, the regulations that are in place vary across the country. For example, some provinces have rules for calculating allowed rent increases above the limits, but the formulae used are broken, allowing landlords to impose excessive increases that widen their profit margins at renters’ expense. Other provinces allow unlimited rent increases across the board.
Solving Canada’s housing affordability crisis requires cross-governmental and cross-sectoral collaboration on both long- and short-term initiatives. The creation of new affordable housing is key, but requires an extensive investment of time, resources and collaboration to implement. In the meantime, it is crucial that we protect the few affordable homes that still exist. One quick and cost-effective way this can be done is through provincial and territorial governments implementing strong rent regulations to ensure that rents are fair and renters have basic protections to live securely in their homes.
Last year, hundreds of people across the country joined our call on the federal government to take action to ensure that all renters across Canada have a secure place to call home. Now we’re calling on all provincial and territorial governments to do their part.
Join us in this push to save renters’ homes and demand action on affordability by writing to your provincial or territorial representatives.
Housing is a human right, and it’s time for our governments to take action to protect renters’ right to live securely in their homes.
The Canadian Centre for Housing Rights (CCHR) proudly partnered with the Public Interest Law Centre (PILC) and other non-profit organizations in Manitoba on a project that aimed to prevent unnecessary evictions of vulnerable households in the province.
Across Canada, renters are increasingly struggling to find affordable housing and to remain in their homes. Eviction rates are shockingly high, with 7% of Canadian households reporting that they have been evicted at some point in their lives. Some of these households are evicted when they fall behind on rent because of temporary financial difficulties. Others are evicted because of solvable problems like noise complaints. With varying decisions related to the eviction of people from their rental homes, it is unclear how decisions are considered and whether alternative solutions were pursued.
It is incumbent upon courts and tribunals to identify situations where eviction is not a necessary means to resolve disputes, and to prioritize alternative measures that will prevent people from unnecessarily losing their home. Many evictions are not necessary – and unnecessary evictions are a violation of the right to housing. People who are unnecessarily evicted from their homes may not find another permanent place to live and could experience homelessness as a result. This is why CCHR and our partners in Manitoba worked to develop legal arguments that will assist local advocates in fighting these evictions.
In some provinces, the law allows tenancy tribunals to respect tenants’ right to housing by recognizing alternatives to eviction. This allows the tenant and landlord to pursue other ways to resolve their issues, considering each party’s circumstances and abilities, while meeting their contractual obligations. An important alternative to an eviction is called a conditional order, which is a way for a tribunal to recognize the many cases where eviction may be avoided. A conditional order directs a tenant to resolve an issue in their tenancy. For example, a tenant who owes rent can be given a repayment plan. A tenant who has been impacting their neighbours with excessive noise can be directed to make less noise. Conditional orders can prevent evictions, allowing for other solutions to resolve an existing tenancy issue while keeping a tenant housed and respecting the landlord’s interest in ensuring that issues are resolved.
CCHR undertook detailed research into the history of conditional orders in Manitoba. We discovered that the Residential Tenancies Branch (RTB) used to routinely avoid evictions by making conditional orders. But in 2009-2010, the RTB suddenly, and without any explanation, largely abandoned this important eviction prevention tool.
As a result, tenants in Manitoba are routinely subjected to unnecessary eviction with no consideration of alternative solutions and whether their tenancies actually need to end.
CCHR worked with community organizations in Manitoba to develop legal arguments to persuade the RTB to resume the use of conditional orders as regular practice. In every eviction hearing, the RTB must approach eviction as a last resort, considering whether an eviction is really necessary, or whether a conditional order would be a better option.
At the same time, we also worked to persuade the Manitoba government to amend its Residential Tenancies Act to provide that RTB adjudicators may only order an eviction if the landlord has proved that it is necessary and that a conditional order would not be possible.
This project was generously supported by the Manitoba Law Foundation.
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