FAQ
Commonly asked questions and answers to support your evidence-building for the National Review Panel on Canada’s Failure to Eliminate Women’s Homelessness
What are human rights?
What is the right to housing?
The right to adequate housing is understood as the right to live in peace, security, and dignity. The Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (CESCR) offers seven minimum standards for what constitutes “adequate” housing:
- Security of tenure: Housing should offer steadfast security, ensuring legal protections are in place against threats such as forced evictions or harassment.
- Availability of services, materials, facilities, and infrastructure: Housing should have readily available services and infrastructure, from safe drinking water and adequate sanitation to affordable heating facilities.
- Affordability: Housing should not be a financial burden that compromises the enjoyment of other fundamental human rights. It should be priced such that it sustains a balanced livelihood.
- Habitability: The environment within the housing should be safe, healthy, and secure. It should guarantee physical safety, provide adequate space, as well as protection against the cold, damp, heat, rain, wind, other threats to health and structural hazards. It should be a space that contributes positively to the physical and mental well-being of its occupants
- Accessibility: Housing must meet the needs of disadvantaged and marginalized groups including persons with any form of disability.
- Location: Housing must provide access to employment opportunities, health-care services, schools, childcare centres and other social facilities. Housing is not adequate if located in polluted or dangerous areas.
- Cultural adequacy: Housing must respect and take into account the expression of cultural identity
“The right to housing is not just a rallying cry. It, like human rights more generally, offers concrete standards that can be implemented and measured for progress.” – UN Special Rapporteur on the Rights to Adequate Housing
Is the right to housing for women and gender-diverse people protected specifically?
Yes! Under various international human rights frameworks, here are a few:
- The Human Rights Council has urged States to “ensure women’s equal right to adequate housing as a component of the right to an adequate standard of living in all aspects of housing strategies, including through equal access to credit, mortgages, home ownership and rental housing, to take the safety of such housing properly into account, especially when women and children face any form of violence or threat of violence, and to undertake legislative and other reforms to realize equal rights for all with respect to property and inheritance.” (Resolution 43/14)
- The Committee on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) has recommended that States should in situation of violence against women “ensure access to financial aid, crisis centers, shelters, hotlines and medical, psychological and counseling services (General Recommendation No. 33 (2015), para 16.). Article 23 of the Istanbul Convention on preventing and combatting violence against women and domestic violence of the Council of Europe says that “[State] Parties shall take the necessary legislative or other measures to provide for the setting-up of appropriate, easily accessible shelters in sufficient numbers to provide safe accommodation for and to reach out pro-actively to victims, especially women and their children.”
- Guiding Principle 6 of the Guiding principles on security of tenure for the urban poor (2014) calls upon States to strengthen and protect women’s security of tenure, regardless of age, marital, civil or social status, and independent of their relationships with male household or community members.
- Under international human rights law and in keeping with the Sustainable Development Goals, States have an immediate obligation to effectively address homelessness and must take immediate steps to address as a matter of priority its underlying structural causes towards its elimination by 2030. Within that context, the measures adopted by national and local governments must prevent LGBT youth from becoming homeless, ensure that housing policies and programmes be inclusive of LGBT persons and address the needs of LGBT youth.
What about Indigenous Peoples’ right to housing?
United Nations Declaration on Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP) states that “Indigenous peoples have the right, without discrimination, to the improvement of their economic and social conditions, including, interalia, in the areas of education, employment, vocational training and retraining, housing, sanitation, health and social security” and that:
“Indigenous peoples have the right to determine and develop priorities and strategies for exercising their right to development. In particular, indigenous peoples have the right to be actively involved in developing and determining health, housing and other economic and social programmes affecting them and, as far as possible, to administer such programmes through their own institutions.”
The International Labour Organization (ILO) Convention No. 169 takes account of the responsibility of governments to promote the: “full realization of economic, social and cultural rights [of indigenous and tribal peoples] with respect for their social and cultural identity, their customs, traditions and their institutions.” The provisions also include an instruction to governments to assist indigenous peoples:
“to eliminate socio-economic gaps that may exist between indigenous and other members of the national community, in a manner compatible with their aspirations and ways of life.”
The Convention also emphasizes the right of indigenous and tribal peoples to: “decide their own priorities for the process of development … and to exercise control, to the extent possible, over their own economic, social and cultural development.”
In respect of development projects, the Convention specifies that governments shall: “ensure that, whenever appropriate, studies are carried out, in cooperation with the peoples concerned, to assess the social, spiritual, cultural and environmental impact on them of planned development activities.” An important aspect of Convention No. 169 is its emphasis on indigenous peoples’ rights to land. The Convention recognizes that indigenous and tribal peoples have a special relationship with the land and that this is the basis of their cultural and economic survival.
What does the right to housing mean in Canada?
In 2019, Canada made a groundbreaking move: it adopted the National Housing Strategy Act (NHSA). The NHSA establishes housing as a human right in Canadian domestic legislation, recognizing “housing is essential to the inherent dignity and well-being of the person and to building sustainable and inclusive communities.” This legislation is grounded in international human rights law, including the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR), which guarantees that the right to housing “will be exercised without discrimination of any kind” and guarantees the equal right of women and gender-diverse people to “the enjoyment of all economic, social and cultural rights.” This commitment to substantive equality is foundational to addressing the gendered housing crisis in Canada, and for making the right to housing real for marginalized women and gender-diverse people.
How do we hold the government of Canada accountable for our right to housing?
To hold the Government of Canada accountable for our right to housing, we can engage with the accountability mechanisms established under the National Housing Strategy Act (NHSA). The Act established:
- The National Housing Council: The National Housing Council is an advisory body that promotes participation and inclusion in the development of Canada’s housing policy.
- The Federal Housing Advocate: An independent, nonpartisan watchdog, responsible for making recommendations to further the realization of the right to housing in Canada.
- Review Panels: Review Panels consist of three members of the National Housing Council who convene human rights-based hearings on systemic issues related to the right to housing.
Who is the Federal Housing Advocate and what can she do?
The Federal Housing Advocate is an independent, nonpartisan watchdog, empowered to drive meaningful action to address housing need and homelessness in Canada. The Advocate is responsible for making recommendations to improve Canada’s housing laws, policies, and programs so that they enable people and families in Canada to have access to adequate, affordable and safe housing that meets their needs.
THE FEDERAL HOUSING ADVOCATE IS
- A “watchdog” on the right to housing in Canada
- Appointed by the Government of Canada, but independent
- Part of the accountability mechanism established through the National Housing Strategy Act
- A potential ally and champion for us
THE FEDERAL HOUSING ADVOCATE ISN’T
- A government decision-maker
- A policymaker
- Associated with any political party
THE FEDERAL HOUSING ADVOCATE CAN
- Conduct research and receive testimony about systemic violations of the right to housing
- Receive submissions from individuals and groups about human rights violations
- Make recommendations to the Minister of Housing, Infrastructure and Communities that must be responded to within 120 days in the
- House of Commons and the Senate
- Speak out about human rights violations
THE FEDERAL HOUSING ADVOCATE CAN’T
- Force governments to make changes
- Write law or policy
- Address individuals’ housing issues
What are review panels?
Review panels are essential oversight and accountability mechanisms established in the National Housing Strategy Act. Their purpose is to conduct human rights based hearings on systemic issues related to the right to housing. Review panels are a human rights-based process allowing rights-holders (like you!) to share your lived experience and expertise of housing issues in your communities and other communities across the country.
Ultimately, Review Panels provide the Government of Canada with evidence-based opinions and recommended actions needed to uphold the right to housing as guaranteed by international human rights law. These panels offer a fresh way for affected individuals to seek justice, placing their dignity and rights at the forefront of Canada’s housing policies and investments. You can find more information about review panels here.
How can I participate in a review panel?
You can engage with review panels and claim your right to housing by sending in a written submission, participating in the oral hearings, and building community capacity to deepen review panel engagement.
How do I get started?
Download our Mobilizing on the Right to Housing for Women and Gender-Diverse People in Canada: A Community Organizer’s Guide and get started today! It includes steps to take, templates, and many tips to help you on your way.
You can also email the Women’s National Housing and Homelessness Network for further support: [email protected]
I want to help collect testimony in my community—how do I do that?
Fill out the form linked below and get notified of trainings, webinars, and other events to help you collect testimony.
You can also download our Mobilizing on the Right to Housing for Women and Gender-Diverse People in Canada: A Community Organizer’s Guide.
What happens when the review panel concludes?
The review panel will produce a report with recommendations based on all the collected testimony they receive. Then, as Canada’s right to housing legislation articulates, the Minister in charge of the National Housing Strategy Act must respond in the Senate and/or House of Commons within 120 days of receiving the recommendations.
