2024-Q4 Emerging Issue Resolution Canada’s Housing Crisis and Human Rights- Based Federal Government Policies and Practices
Whereas #1 housing that allows all people to live in dignity in a safe and secure home without discrimination or harassment, is a human right in Canada, that all levels of government have the legal duty to ensure; and
Whereas #2 homelessness has reached a crisis point in communities across Canada, with thousands of Canadians, Indigenous people being a significant majority, living in tent encampments in public spaces, temporary hostels, hotels, and on the streets; and
Whereas #3 some municipalities have made every effort to alleviate these conditions, by providing clean water, shelter from bad weather, health care, heating, and sanitation services, but lack the funds to move quickly and completely enough to provide the ever growing demand; and
Whereas #4 some municipalities have forcibly removed tent encampments, some using police and threat of jail, and other municipalities asking the Province to use the “notwithstanding clause” to clear the encampments; and
Whereas #5 in its April 3rd 2024 report to Government, the Office of the Federal Housing Advocate commended the Government for its recognition of the human rights- based encampment responses that put people experiencing homelessness at the centre of efforts to find solutions within its recent Canada Housing Plan, but urged it to provide full-funding and resources to address Metis, Inuit and First Nations Housing & Infrastructure Gap by 2030 as well as additional federal housing funds and resources for municipalities on the front lines so communities can provide long-term solutions; therefore be it
Resolved #1 that the National Council of Women of Canada adopt as policy that housing as a human right for all people be central to all Federal inter- Provincial/ Territorial and Local community housing plans, policies and funding agreements; and be it further
Resolved #2 that the National Council of Women of Canada urge the Government of Canada to work with all governments to provide support to municipalities by:
a) ensuring that its National Housing Plan emphasizes its “Human Rights-based approach” in its public and inter- provincial/territorial and community correspondence, funding, and programs
b) including minimum human rights standards requirements within Provincial/Territorial Federal funding agreements
c) precluding Provincial and Territorial use of the notwithstanding agreement for the purpose of enforced tent encampment removals
d) providing additional federal housing funds for municipalities on the front lines so communities can provide long term solutions
e) ensuring resources to co-ordinate community housing efforts and full-funding to address all those in need of affordable housing as defined by costing no more than 30 percent of total household income before taxes, and addressing the Infrastructure Gap by 2030
f) prioritizing meeting the Metis, Inuit and First Nations Housing & Infrastructure Gap by 2030.