STREET. JOHN’S, NL – As more Canadians struggle to afford or find housing, the country’s smallest province is the only one that can point to legislation that recognizes housing as a human right.
The Canadian Press asked each province if it agrees with the federal housing ombudsman that housing is a human right and if it intends to introduce legislation upholding that right.
Most did not answer the questions directly and responded with a long list of initiatives launched to address the real estate crises brewing in their jurisdictions. In Quebec, the government’s lack of interest in addressing the issue was revealed in an erroneous email sent to a journalist.
When asked for a response a week after an initial request, a spokesperson for Quebec’s Housing Minister mistakenly sent a response intended for a government colleague.
“Do I ghost her again?” she wrote on Thursday. “Otherwise a blanket non-responsive response, saying housing is a priority for our government?” As of Friday afternoon, Quebec had not responded.
Manitoba said it recognizes “Canada’s rights-based approach to housing,” and Newfoundland and Labrador said it agrees with federal and international laws that recognize housing as a human right.
Prince Edward Island responded with a link to its Residential Tenancies Act, the first line of which recognizes that Canada has a treaty signed by the United Nations that affirms housing as a human right, although critics point out that there is nothing in the law to defend that right.
Federal housing advocate Marie-Josee Houle urged all provinces to adopt laws that recognize housing as a human right in her report on homeless encampments released Feb. 13. She was appointed to her position in 2022 to monitor Canada’s progress in realizing her own declaration that it is a fundamental right.
Houle wondered in an interview if provinces simply don’t understand what it would mean to make explicit that they view housing as a human right. But whether they do it or not, they have still signed an agreement under the National Housing Strategy to adopt a “human rights-based approach to housing”.
“I’m not sure all provinces have this in their collective memory,” Houle said Thursday.
That approach includes listening to homeless people and focusing on getting them housing that meets their needs, rather than deciding what is best for homeless people without their input and forcing them into stopgap measures, such as shelters they don’t want. live. she said.
It also includes providing heat, electricity and bathrooms to people living in homeless encampments if suitable housing is not available. Essentially, it is a commitment to work from the recognition that homelessness is a systemic problem and that people are unhoused because governments at all levels have failed them, Houle added.
To the provinces, he said: “We need all the players at the table.”
Dale Whitmore, policy director at the Canadian Center for Housing Rights, said provinces could take an easy first step toward recognizing and defending housing as a human right by adding a clause to their tenancy laws that says Eviction can only be used as an absolute last resort. .
Whitmore said it is critical that provinces recognize and protect the human right to housing through legislation. The rules must do both, he added, noting that while PEI’s leasing law recognizes the right, it offers nothing to defend it.
“We need rent regulation that keeps rents affordable and protects tenants from unreasonable and excessive rents, and we need eviction protections to prevent people from losing their homes to unaffordable rents,” Whitmore said. “As the housing crisis continues to worsen, we’re only going to need those things more.”
This report by The Canadian Press was first published April 26, 2024.