Update: On February 4, 2022, Canada announced the appointment of its first Housing Advocate, Marie-Josée Houle.
Canada has launched itself on a path to recognize the right to adequate housing1, but is being held up by the selection of a Housing Advocate. What’s going on and why is the Advocate so important?
Why align a national program with international commitments?
Canada is a signatory to the UN Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights. United Nations personnel have studied Canada’s housing situation and documented growing homelessness, poor housing conditions among minority populations, and a widening gap between the ability to pay for housing and the price of housing. Based on their findings, the UN has been calling on Canada to meet its international commitments to ensure there is adequate housing for all residents.
In 2019, the government passed the National Housing Strategy Act (NHSA), which recognized the right to adequate housing for its residents. The NHSA also set out a process to implement the right to adequate housing. A National Housing Advocate is a key actor in the process.
Part of the Advocate’s job is to investigate and identify systems that block access to housing that is affordable and safe. The Advocate will then work with the government to reform those systems.
The Federal Government has not appointed the Advocate. It has promised that it will, but so far no announcement. Ahmed Hussen, the Minister responsible, says that it will happen sooner rather than later.
Is Canada at an impasse?
Does the absence of the Housing Advocate, this key actor in Canada’s commitment to the right to adequate housing, stop Canada in its tracks?
There is a network of people who are interested in seeing Canada act on its commitment to the right to adequate housing. The network includes people with experience of homelessness, housing providers, housing advocates and legislators. Some of these people have been working to make the right to adequate housing a reality for a long time. It is unlikely that they will sit back if a Housing Advocate isn’t appointed soon.
Even without the Advocate, the groundwork for change is becoming available. There is a growing body of research that support efforts to implement the right to adequate housing in Canada. The National Right to Housing Network (NRHN) has just issued a report, which is linked at the end of this post. It compares the current National Housing Strategy with its original goals and with international standards.
This report complements two more, which have been introduced in other posts2. All three draw out the significance of the international commitment to the right to housing. All are publicly available to anyone who wants to read and act on them.
If a Housing Advocate isn’t appointed? Who knows what could happen? Perhaps a respected someone, a People’s Housing Advocate, will emerge to investigate Canada’s housing systems, and push for action from outside government…
How does any of this apply outside Canada?
For countries that have not declared a right to housing, the NRHN’s report provides excellent information about the possibilities that come in to play when working to adopt the housing aspects of International Covenant on Social, Economic and Cultural Rights at a national level.
For countries where the right to housing is recognized, the NRHN’s report is a useful methodology for systematically examining existing policy and comparing it with international commitments.
You can access the National Right to Housing Network’s report here: Implementing The Right To Housing In Canada: Expanding The National Housing Strategy
Footnotes
- Canada’s 10 year National Housing Strategy launched in 2017, the first national level housing policy and program since the 1990’s. In 2019 Canada passed legislation which acknowledges that adequate housing is a human right.
- Try: Implementing The Right To Adequate Housing Under The National Housing Strategy Act: The International Human Rights Framework, and Implementation Of The Right To Housing For Women, Girls, And Gender Diverse People In Canada
