Monitoring the right to housing for people with disabilities
Canadian Human Rights Commission and the Office of the Federal Housing Advocate
About us
The Canadian Human Rights Commission monitors the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD) in Canada. We are responsible for tracking how Canada is putting the CRPD into action. Learn more about our CRPD work.
The Federal Housing Advocate helps promote and protect the right to housing in Canada. The Advocate monitors housing issues. This includes barriers to housing for people with disabilities. The Advocate's Office is based at the Commission. Learn more about their work.
The Commission and the Advocate are working together. We are monitoring the right to housing for people with disabilities in Canada.
The right to housing for people with disabilities
Access to adequate housing is a human right. It means more than just having somewhere to live. It means having a home that is safe and secure. It means being able to live in peace and dignity.
For people with disabilities, it also means getting to choose where to live. It means having a home that is accessible. It also means having access to supports to be able to live independently.
The Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD) says that people with disabilities should have equal access to housing. It says people with disabilities have the right to live independently and be included in their communities. Canada has agreed to follow the CRPD.
Canada agrees that everyone has the right to housing that is safe, affordable and inclusive. This right is included in the National Housing Strategy Act.
But people with disabilities in Canada face many barriers to housing. Many people with disabilities are forced to live in institutions. They can't get the support they need to live independently. People can't find safe and accessible homes. Many people are struggling to pay their rent. People often experience homelessness because of these barriers.
Some people even lose their lives. Some people with disabilities are turning to Medical Assistance in Dying because they can't access housing and supports that meet their needs. This needs to change.
We want to better understand this problem to help find solutions. We are collecting information about the housing situation of people with disabilities in Canada. We want to know what it's like to be a person with a disability who is trying to get their housing needs met. We also want to know what steps Canada is taking to improve this situation. We will use this information to advocate for change.
If you have experienced homelessness or had problems with housing, you can tell the Advocate about your situation. This information can help us better understand housing issues in Canada.
Our monitoring framework
We developed a system to monitor the right to housing for people with disabilities in Canada. This system is called our monitoring framework. It explains what we will monitor. It lists the information we will collect and analyze. It is based on the OPERA framework for monitoring economic and social rights.
In 2022, we met with a group of people with disabilities, their families and caregivers. We wanted to learn about their housing experiences. Some people had problems finding a place to live. Some had problems with their homes. We thank everyone for giving us the chance to learn from them. We used what we learned to develop our monitoring framework.
You can read our report, What we learned: Housing for people with disabilities, to learn more about what they told us.
We created our framework with people with disabilities and experts. We want our work to be inclusive. We know some people with disabilities face more barriers to housing. For example, people can face barriers because of their disabilities, their sex, and their race. This is called “intersectionality”. We want to track this.
Types of information
We are collecting and analysing three types of information. These types of information are called indicators. We are collecting information about outcomes, policy efforts and government resources.
- Outcomes: This includes information about the housing situations of people with disabilities in Canada. For example: How many people with disabilities have housing that meets their accessibility needs?
- Policy efforts: This includes information about laws, policies, and programs that affect housing for people with disabilities. For example: Which provinces and territories are taking steps to move people with disabilities out of institutions?
- Resources: This includes information about how much money governments are spending to improve housing for people with disabilities. For example: How much money did governments spend on affordable housing for people with disabilities?
We will disaggregate information as much as possible. That means we will break down information into different groups. For example, we will break down information by:
- Province and territory
- Disability type
- Age
- Race
- Gender
Areas
We are focusing on eleven areas. We chose these areas because they are key parts of the right to housing for people with disabilities. They are based on the United Nations' definition of the right to adequate housing. They are also based on the CRPD.
We are focusing on these areas:
- Institutionalization: Are people with disabilities being forced to live in institutions (like group homes, hospitals and long-term care homes)?
- Homelessness: Are people with disabilities at greater risk of experiencing homelessness? Are homeless shelters and services meeting their needs?
- Discrimination and dignity: Are people with disabilities experiencing housing discrimination? Are they able to live with dignity?
- Accessibility: Do people with disabilities have housing that meets their accessibility needs?
- Supports and services: Do people with disabilities have the supports they need to live independently (like help to cook, clean and bathe)? Do they have equal access to basic services (like safe drinking water and Internet access)?
- Affordability: Do people with disabilities face financial barriers to housing? Are they spending too much money on housing?
- Security of tenure (stability): Do people with disabilities have stable homes? Are they at risk of being forced out of their homes? Do they have access to justice?
- Safety: Do people with disabilities feel safe in their homes and communities? Have they experienced violence or abuse at home?
- Habitability (housing conditions): Do people with disabilities live in homes that are big enough? Are their homes in good condition, and free of health risks like bugs and mold?
- Location: Are people with disabilities satisfied with the neighborhoods they live in? Do they live near their workplaces and the services they need (like transportation, schools and medical clinics)?
- Cultural adequacy: Do people with disabilities have homes that reflect their cultural identities and traditions?
Indicators
To learn more about the information we collect in each area, select an area from the following list to find the corresponding indicators and results. You will also find links to relevant international law sources, including the Convention on the Rights of People with Disabilities (CRPD).
The data will be broken down into different groups (disaggregated) where possible, including by disability type, age, race, sex, geography, and other identities.
Results
Here are the first results from our monitoring work.
Next steps
We will continue to monitor the right to housing for people with disabilities in Canada. We will share our results and the information we collect. We will also make recommendations to improve housing for people with disabilities.
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