2020 was a difficult year.
In January, we came off a history-making year that saw both the Government of Canada and the City of Toronto recognize the right to housing and commit to taking a rights-based approach in their housing policy. We had been gearing up to continue pushing the right to housing agenda forward when the world changed in March with the outbreak of COVID-19.
As we near the end of 2020, thousands of people are facing potential eviction and homelessness as the pandemic rages on. Realizing the right to adequate, accessible and affordable housing has never been more urgent or essential.
Here we take stock of some of the biggest right to housing developments of 2020.
1. COVID-19 deeply impacted renters and people experiencing homelessness
The COVID-19 pandemic exposed and exacerbated economic and social inequalities across the world, and the impacts on renters have been significant. Like many countries, Canada has been in the midst of a deepening housing crisis for years, and the context was already bleak when the pandemic arrived. When several provinces went into lockdown in March, thousands of renters who lost their job or income were suddenly struggling to pay rent and vulnerable to eviction as a result.
Provincial moratoriums on eviction were swiftly put in place in March, and while these measures provided some initial relief from an immediate threat of eviction, they were ultimately short-lived. One by one, moratoriums were lifted prematurely, in some provinces as early as May, even though thousands had not yet recovered their income or employment. Since then, advocates have called for a moratorium to be reinstated, including in Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, Ontario, Manitoba, and British Columbia. Ontario came close when a motion was unanimously passed by the Legislature on December 8, and now all eyes are on Premier Doug Ford to sign an executive order to implement the moratorium. For months, advocates in Ontario also raised the alarm over serious human rights and justice issues at the Landlord and Tenant Board, as thousands of eviction hearings have been rushed through and some people have lost their homes in a matter of minutes.
Meanwhile, people experiencing homelessness were also uniquely impacted by the pandemic, as shelters reduced the number of beds available to follow physical distancing requirements. The congregate settings in shelters led some people to look for other environments to sleep that they considered safer, like in encampments which sprung up in city parks and other outdoor spaces across the country. In response, municipalities like Toronto, Vancouver, Montreal, Calgary, and London sought solutions to keep people safe and housed during the pandemic, moving hundreds of people living in homelessness into vacant hotels, modular housing and other temporary housing.
Hearing reports from the ground of safety, human rights and justice concerns in encampments and evictions across Toronto, advocates with R2HTO (the Right to Housing Toronto Network) provided the City with recommendations to align its approaches with its commitment to realize the right to housing.
2. The National Housing Strategy inched forward
The Government of Canada made several announcements related to housing and homelessness in their highly-anticipated Speech from the Throne on September 23. Among these announcements were new details about the government’s funding commitments, including a goal to accelerate the creation of 3,000 affordable housing units across the country by March 2021 – a critical addition to the housing stock that will be made through the Rapid Housing Initiative.
Another signal that the federal government is making progress on its National Housing Strategy was through the appointment of Canada’s first National Housing Council, announced on November 22. The Council has a mandate to advance the government’s housing policy and National Housing Strategy, which includes the progressive realization of the right to housing.
At the same time, the federal government launched its search to fill a key position with a mandate to advance the National Housing Strategy – the Federal Housing Advocate. This position will be responsible for monitoring, assessing, reporting, and making recommendations on the right to housing across Canada. This is a new role which has yet to be filled, and the government is currently seeking qualified candidates with applications due on December 30, 2020.
3. New legislation in Ontario weakened tenants’ rights
In July 2020 the Ontario government passed Bill 184, which makes several amendments to the Residential Tenancies Act. Housing advocates raised concerns about the negative impacts that this bill will have on tenants and their rights, which we know will be disproportionally felt by marginalized Ontarians – individuals who are low-income, racialized, newcomers to Canada, youth, and persons with disabilities.
Bill 184 weakens tenants’ rights and makes it easier to evict people by effectively stripping protections from tenants and undermining access to justice. Amendments under Bill 184 also impact tenants financially and widen the power imbalance between landlords and renters.
In a time when tenants need support from our governments the most, this new legislation makes life tangibly more difficult for already-disadvantaged individuals. This bill also made it all the more evident that Ontario renters have remained a low policy priority once again this year.
4. The City of Toronto reinforced its commitment to the right to housing, and we are still waiting for a Housing Commissioner
In December 2019 we celebrated the City of Toronto becoming the first municipality in Canada to commit to a rights-based approach in its housing policy. Nine months later, the City released its HousingTO Implementation Plan 2020-2030 containing the first details of how it intends to address affordable housing and homelessness over the next ten years.
One laudable goal in their plan is the creation of 40,000 new affordable housing units in the city with specific targets to provide affordable housing for individuals most in need, including people experiencing homelessness, youth, seniors, people with physical and developmental disabilities, indigenous households, and girls- and women-led households.
While the City’s plan is a good next step to realize its commitments, key details including timelines and concrete dates, as well as additional resources, are needed to better understand how and when the City will reach the targets it has set for itself. We have identified the good and the gaps that we’ll be keeping an eye on as plans continue taking shape in 2021.
We had also hoped the City would establish the Office of the Housing Commissioner in 2020, which is a centerpiece of the City’s HousingTO plan. The purpose of the Housing Commissioner is to hold the City accountable to its commitment to realize the right to housing. The timeline has been pushed back to 2021, and we are eagerly awaiting news on how this office will take shape and to see a budget commitment made to support its work. Ensuring independent accountability for a rights-based approach to housing policy could not be more urgent as the City continues to respond to an unprecedented global pandemic that has disproportionately affected some of our most marginalized citizens.
5. New seeds were planted to claim the right to housing across Canada
In the fall, CCHR and the National Right to Housing Network kicked off a new initiative working with communities across Canada to identify systemic violations of the right to housing, propose solutions and influence systemic changes in the housing landscape. Policy advocates, community leaders and lived experts across the country came together for two online working group meetings, contributing their collective knowledge and experience to propose solutions to address the deepening housing crisis facing so many communities.
These meetings planted new seeds that will support communities to engage with and benefit from rights-based housing policy, in particular the National Housing Strategy. Stay tuned for opportunities to engage in this initiative in 2021.
2020 has been a challenging year. The impacts of COVID-19 have pushed housing issues to the forefront while the housing and evictions crisis escalated to new heights.
As many Canadians continue to grapple with income loss, financial instability and housing insecurity, 2021 will be a crucial year to advance the right to housing. At CCHR, we’ll continue working with communities, advocates and governments to push this important agenda forward and we hope you will join us in this work.
For much of the year, our homes have been our whole worlds. It’s where many of us worked, shopped, had Zoom calls with friends and family, and helped our kids get through math class. While some Canadians were adjusting to doing nearly everything from home, others were suddenly facing the possibility of losing theirs through a traumatizing life event – eviction.
Two million Ontarians lost their jobs or their income when the province went into lockdown. At CCHR, we have fielded countless stories of how this has affected the ability of people in our communities to pay their rent.
Like Sebastian, who fell behind on rent after suddenly losing his job in April. He called CCHR in a panic when his landlord told him to pay up or immediately move his family out.
Or Jin, who was laid off in May and was terrified by a threatening eviction notice. She didn’t understand the law and didn’t know where to go for help, until she found our hotline.
Then there’s Ana, who faced the impossible choice of feeding her kids or paying her rent after her work hours were cut in half. Paralyzed with fear and anxiety at the prospect of losing her home, she called CCHR in desperation just the day before her eviction hearing.
Fortunately, our case workers were there to take Sebastian, Jin and Ana’s calls, informing them about their rights, how the eviction process works, and connecting them with legal assistance, financial aid, and counselling services.
We field calls from dozens of people in similar circumstances each month, guiding 90% of them to a positive outcome. In the past two months, the number of people we’ve heard from has doubled, overwhelming our capacity to respond. We are now deeply worried we won’t be able to help hundreds more keep their homes as the pandemic carries on.
UPDATE: Bill 205 did not pass
On Monday, November 16th 2020, Bill 205 the Protecting Renters from Illegal Evictions Act, a Private Member’s Bill introduced by MPP Jessica Bell, will go to 2nd reading in the Ontario Legislature. This Bill targets the growing problem of bad-faith and unlawful evictions in Ontario that are leaving tenants struggling to secure safe, adequate and affordable housing. If passed, Bill 205 has the potential to strengthen protections for tenants facing “no-fault” evictions; expand capacity for tenants, the Landlord and Tenant Board, and other levels of Government to fight bad-faith evictions, including “renovictions;” and increase fines and penalties for landlords who break the law.
Highlights from Bill 205 include:
Bill 205 seeks to expand timelines for “no-fault” evictions, increase transparency during the legal eviction process, broaden the enforcement powers given to the Landlord and Tenant Board and Government agencies to fight bad faith evictions, and expand access to legal services for tenants facing eviction.
At CERA, we routinely hear from tenants across Ontario who receive verbal or informal written demands from landlords to move out of their apartments for reasons relating to renovations or when a landlord claims they need the apartment for a family member. These demands bypass the formal eviction process at the Landlord and Tenant Board, including the use of proper forms that notify tenants of their rights, and are sometimes accompanied by pressure and harassment from landlords. Bill 205 addresses the problem of informal landlord demands to move out by requiring the use of official Landlord and Tenant Board forms for giving tenants notice to end their tenancy. Bill 205 also requires landlords to provide detailed information, in cases where they are seeking to evict a tenant due to extensive renovations or a demolition, directly to tenants when they serve a notice of termination. These requirements will ensure tenants are served with proper forms that include information about their right to proper notice, a legal termination date and notice period in accordance with the Residential Tenancies Act, and the rules regarding compensation for tenants in instances when they are entitled to compensation for an eviction. The requirement to provide all necessary information, including permits and authorization for renovations/demolition, directly to tenants will also help ensure landlords do not attempt to evict tenants under false pretenses. Taken together, these requirements will help ensure tenants are made aware of their rights and do not vacate the rental unit in accordance with informal or bad-faith demands.
Different levels of government are working to develop unique and complementary policies that protect affordable housing and fight illegal evictions. Unfortunately, much of this work is taking place in the absence of good data collection and sharing across levels of government – a key component of well-informed policymaking. Bill 205 will assist with better data collection and sharing by creating a registry of landlord “no-fault” eviction applications that will include data on the geographic location and outcome of these applications. Data from this registry will be published on an annual basis and shared across levels of government and with the public. Among other benefits, the availability of this data will allow governments across the Province to compile and analyze aggregate data to view trendlines about where these types of evictions are more prevalent and the outcome of these eviction applications – information that will allow levels of government to target policy responses to communities most in need. For tenants, the availability of this information will help them to make more informed decisions about whether to rent from landlords with past histories of evicting tenants.
Low vacancy rates, vacancy decontrol and skyrocketing rent prices make securing affordable housing increasingly difficult for tenants across Ontario. Evictions compound this difficulty by forcing tenants out into a difficult rental market under tight timelines and with additional disruption and expenses related to moving. Bill 205 increases the length of time tenants have to vacate their property when given proper notice and increases the mandatory amount of compensation tenants are entitled to when they are evicted for one of the “no-fault” reasons. These provisions have the potential to ease the transition to a new home for tenants who are legally evicted.
Because of vacancy decontrol, a policy that allows landlords to raise the rent by an unlimited amount when a tenant vacates an apartment, the financial incentives for landlords to unlawfully evict a tenant are high. This financial incentive is unlikely to be curbed by current fines and penalties given the relatively low amount of these penalties compared to the amount that can be charged by landlords in higher rent. Additionally, the onus on proving an unlawful eviction rests with tenants who are unlikely to have the necessary resources, in the form of legal representation or otherwise, to properly investigate and seek a remedy if they were evicted in bad faith. Bill 205 includes measures to tackle the above problems by increasing the penalties for landlords who unlawfully evict tenants and includes provisions that give tenants the right to return to their unit following an unlawful eviction or be provided with another vacant unit from their landlord at the same amount of rent. Bill 205 also increases enforcement and investigative capacity for the Ministry of Municipal Affairs and Housing (the Ministry) by requiring the Landlord and Tenant Board to notify the Ministry when an Order for eviction is issued based on a “no-fault” reason and compels the Ministry to take measures to ensure the eviction was carried out in good faith. If the Ministry determines that an eviction was unlawful, Bill 205 grants them the power to notify the tenant of the unlawful eviction and extends the period of time a tenant can take action at the Landlord and Tenant Board based on this notification to two years from the date they vacated the unit instead of 12 months from the date they vacated the unit.
Landlords have access to legal representation to help them navigate the eviction process at the Landlord and Tenant Board in a manner that is vastly disproportionate to tenants. This uneven access to legal representation creates a power imbalance in favor of landlords and makes navigating the eviction process an unfair fight for tenants. Bill 205 attempts to ease this power imbalance by requiring Legal Aid Ontario to provide, upon request, legal representation to tenants who are facing eviction for “no-fault” reasons. Given that no-fault evictions target tenants from all economic circumstances, it is encouraging to see that Bill 205 proposes to bypass Legal Aid Ontario’s financial eligibility requirements in these circumstances.
While the above measures have the potential to lessen the financial incentives for landlords to engage in unlawful evictions, these measures need to be accompanied by the elimination of vacancy decontrol to truly tackle the disturbing rise in unlawful no-fault evictions across Ontario.
Further clarification and additional details are required to clarify the methods by which tenants can obtain legal aid services when facing eviction for “no-fault” reasons. It is unclear whether tenants will be able to obtain these services through Legal Aid Ontario’s Certificate program, through increased capacity and resources in Ontario’s Community Legal Aid Clinics, or a combination of both.
Evictions are a highly disruptive events, especially in the midst of a global pandemic and economic crisis, and have long-lasting physical, financial, and mental health consequences. As such, evictions should only be permitted in exceptional circumstances and as a last resort. Tenants facing eviction should be made aware of their rights and be in a position to exercise them at the outset of and throughout the eviction process. Bill 205 includes some positive steps to ensure tenants are able to navigate the eviction process in a fair and transparent manner. Of particular interest are the measures which ensure tenants are made aware of their rights through mandated use of proper documentation and increased requirements for information to be provided by landlords. As well, a province-wide, accessible registry of “no-fault” eviction applications/orders is long overdue and has the potential to influence municipal and province wide policy solutions at a targeted level. Also of interest are the commitments to crack down on unlawful “no-fault” evictions by strengthening the capacity for the Landlord and Tenant Board and the Ministry to investigate and penalize landlords who undertake these evictions. Until vacancy decontrol ends, the financial incentive for landlords to unlawfully evict tenants will remain in place, but the measures included in Bill 205 may help curb the ability of landlords to unlawfully evict tenants with little or no consequences, and are a good first step. We are encouraged by the attention being given to these important issues and hope that Bill 205 receives all due consideration from our elected representatives.
The Canadian Centre for Housing Rights (CCHR) has a long history of developing and driving forward precedent-setting litigation.
When we were known as the Centre for Equality Rights in Accommodation (CERA), we represented clients across Canada and acted in an advisory capacity on many ground-breaking legal challenges to policies and practices that denied disadvantaged groups access to housing, including:
CCHR also led a coalition of organizations, and served as a plaintiff on Tanudjaja, the historic challenge against the federal and provincial governments for violations of section 7 and 15 of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms. The case argued that governments created and maintained conditions that lead to and sustain homelessness and inadequate housing.
Across our history, CCHR has promoted interpretations and applications of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms in order to address rights violations faced by disadvantaged groups in need of housing. In this regard, CCHR worked in collaboration with the Charter Committee on Poverty Issues (CCPI), a national committee of low-income people and legal experts that advanced the rights of impoverished persons in Canada. CCHR assisted CCPI in test case litigation involving particularly marginalized groups.
CCHR also coordinated CCPI’s intervention at the Supreme Court of Canada in Gosselin v Québec (Attorney General), [2002] 4 SCR 429 – the only Charter case to date in which the Court had the opportunity to consider the extent to which section 7 of the Charter places obligations on governments to provide an adequate level of social assistance to prevent homelessness and its adverse effects.
CCHR also coordinated CCPI’s intervention in the case of New Brunswick (Minister of Health and Community Services) v G. (J.), [1999] 3 SCR 46 which dealt with access to legal aid for those living in poverty; Baker v Canada (Minister of Citizenship and Immigration), [1999] 2 SCR 817, on the status of international human rights law in the exercise of administrative discretion; Eldridge v British Columbia (Attorney General), [1997] 3 SCR 624 on positive obligations to address needs of disadvantaged groups under section 15 of the Charter; Thibaudeau v Canada, [1995] 2 SCR 627 on the rights of single mothers; Walker v Prince Edward Island, [1995] 2 SCR 407 and R. v Prosper, [1994] 3 SCR 236 on the right to state-funded counsel for impoverished accused; and Symes v Canada, [1993] 4 SCR 695 on the application of section 15 to socio-economic policies and taxation.
Over the span of a year, CCHR – formerly known as the Centre for Equality Rights in Accommodation (CERA) – in collaboration with Canada without Poverty, spoke to an array of people belonging to various marginalized communities about how they survive with very little financial support. This booklet summarizes our findings, gives insight into what poverty looks like in Canada and puts into question whether a lack of financial literacy is the cause of poverty.
The Montreal Principles on the meaning and application of economic, social and cultural rights for women is the first international legal document of its kind. This plain language guide explains the Montreal Principles in a series of fact sheets that focus on key elements of the Principles.
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