Homeless Hub: A Human Rights Based Calculation of Canada's Housing Shortages

Today, the Office of the Federal Housing Advocate released a new analysis of Canada’s housing supply shortage that found it is missing 4.4 million homes that are affordable to people in housing need.

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Download the a HUMAN RIGHTS-BASED CALCULATION OF CANADA’S HOUSING SUPPLY SHORTAGES report by Whitzman

The figures show a current deficit of 3 million homes for low and very low income households in housing need who can only afford less than $1,050 per month, and a further 1.4 million missing homes for moderate and median income households in housing need.

In other words, the creation of 4.4 million homes that are permanently affordable and accessible represents what is currently needed to restore affordability to Canada’s housing system.

The report, produced by housing policy expert Carolyn Whitzman, applied a human rights-based approach to the analysis of housing supply needs in Canada. Its calculations take into account housing needs across the country by income category, household size and priority population.

The report includes, for the first time, students, those who are homeless, and people living in congregate housing – such as long-term care or supportive housing for people with disabilities – to the census count of people in “core housing need”.

The report published today is a new way of looking at housing supply in Canada. It focuses on the circumstances of people who are being most affected by inadequate housing and homelessness, and what type of housing supply will actually meet their needs.

By comparison, CMHC’s 2022 report on housing supply challenges in Canada based its supply shortage estimate on housing demand – including demand from investors – rather than on housing need, and it only looked at homeownership costs, not affordability for renters. That report estimated 5.8 million new homes would be needed by 2031 to restore affordability to Canada’s housing system.

The report published today also used a human rights framework to estimate future housing supply need for the next decade. It projects that in addition to current needs, Canada will also need to add 9.6 million new homes overall in the next 10 years, with a third of this supply dedicated for very low to moderate income households.

Understanding Canada’s housing supply shortage using a human rights-lens must be the start of a broader plan to end inadequate housing across the country.

The report includes recommendations to improve national data on housing need, which must include incomes, maximum affordable price points, household sizes and data on the demographics of those who are most in need, such as single mothers, Indigenous and racialized people.

This is a complex problem that requires many solutions. While Canada needs more housing supply across the board, it must be the right type of supply that responds to those in greatest need.

Quotes

“Canada needs a long-term plan to bridge the gap in its affordable housing supply. It must include significant, sustained government investment in non-market housing – such as cooperative, non-profit, and public housing. The ultimate goal is a sustainable housing system. The key ingredient to get there is a human rights approach that puts people first, and programs that respond to their needs.” — Marie-Josée Houle, Federal Housing Advocate

“Addressing Canada’s housing shortage means that we must look closely at the circumstances of people who are in need of housing, and what type of housing supply responds to their needs. Estimating Canada’s housing supply shortage using a human rights-lens must be the first step of a broader plan to end inadequate housing across the country.” – Dr. Carolyn Whitzman, Housing Policy researcher and Expert Advisor, Housing Assessment Resource Tools (HART) project

3 Key Goals

• Create opportunities for First Nations to be involved in fair and cooperative housing discussions with governments, public agencies, and financial institutions.✔

• In collaboration with First Nations partners, identify new and culturally appropriate systems of land renting and ownership (tenure).

• Make the toolkit easily accessible online with a digital marketing strategy that promotes the resources with First Nations.

Project scope and expected outcomes

Spreading the word about alternative approaches to Indigenous housing policies

To address the challenges in accessing housing, an Indigenous Housing and Homelands Governance Toolkit offers a series of modules that explore ideas “outside the box” of the colonial housing system. These new approaches to Indigenous housing policies explore how to meet these housing needs in a culturally legitimate and meaningful way.

The toolkit targets Indigenous leaders, government, council, and housing managers in Canada within the 200 distinct First Nations in British Columbia and beyond. Once finalized and launched, it will be accessible to all Indigenous people in B.C. and Canada.

This project will make the toolkit accessible online by creating a dedicated page on the ecotrust.ca website, with content that can be downloaded or viewed from a desktop, tablet, or mobile device.

One year to launch

The project will be carried out over a year, broken down by quarterly phases, all in collaboration with First Nations partners:

1. In the first quarter, workshops will explore core principles and values of First Nation communities, examining how these may fit into specific housing and land policies. A key focus will be developing community-driven activities that support the ideas that arise.

2. In the second quarter, participants will identify and define new and culturally appropriate renting and ownership systems.

3. In the third quarter, the focus will be on examining these renting and ownership systems. The work will look at how to overcome known financial gaps and governance challenges through solutions related to shared-equity and community land trusts. A key outcome will be developing financial tools with financial institutions.

4. In the fourth quarter, the project will expand the toolkit’s shared-equity and community land trust modules, complete the financial tools, and document case studies. Once completed, the toolkit will be promoted directly to First Nations within B.C. and extensively online.

Supporting the launch with a range of tactics

To gain wider awareness and use of the toolkit among First Nations within B.C. and beyond, this project will conduct the following promotional activities:

1. Develop a short, engaging informational video explaining the toolkit and what it includes. This video will be shared on Ecotrust Canada’s website, as well as on its five main social media channels: YouTube, Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn.

2. Produce a press release to announce the toolkit's publication. This will be shared on the website and the five social media channels.

3. Share two posts per month for five months on the five social media channels. The posts will highlight different features from the toolkit and its value.

4. Create a blog post, in collaboration with a partner First Nation, on why the community wanted to support the toolkit project and how they use it in their housing plans. The post will be shared on the website and featured in the Ecotrust Canada monthly newsletter, which has over 2,000 subscribers.

5. Promote the toolkit at a national level with the support of partners, in particular the Aboriginal Savings Corporation of Canada (ABSCAN) in partnership with the National Aboriginal Capital Corporations Association (NACCA). This will include promoting the toolkit at a Special NACCA Working Session on the Yänonhchia’ initiative, to be held in Wendake, Quebec, in 2023.

See more examples of projects funded through the National Housing Strategy Research and Planning Fund.