Ms. Karen Redman
Regional Chair, Region of Waterloo
Dear Regional Chair Redman and Members of Regional Council:
I write today to express my concerns about the plan to evict the homeless encampment to build a new transit hub at 100 Victoria Street North, Kitchener by December 1, 2025. As the Federal Housing Advocate, my mandate to review systemic housing issues across the country was established by the National Housing Strategy Act (2019), which also reaffirmed housing as a fundamental human right in Canada.
I appreciate that municipalities like Region of Waterloo are on the frontlines of the homelessness crisis and responses to encampments but do not necessarily have the powers and financial resources to address all the systemic factors contributing to homelessness. Nevertheless, municipal governments – just like all other orders of government – have obligations to respect, protect, and fulfill human rights and to adopt a human rights based approach to encampments.
In February 2024, I released the final report and recommendations following a year long review of homeless encampments across the country. My report, Upholding dignity and human rights: The Federal Housing Advocate's review of homeless encampments included recommendations aimed at all levels of government to fulfill their human rights obligations. You can consult the specific recommendations for municipalities online. I concluded that forced evictions and enforcement approaches do not address the underlying systemic issues and put people at risk of even greater harms. I also called on municipalities to develop human rights based policies related to encampments and to ensure that their responses to encampments prioritize upholding the human rights of encampment residents.
Human rights-based approaches to encampments
A human rights based approach calls on municipalities to ensure that they are doing all that they can to protect people living in encampments from harm and violations of their human rights. It requires:
- Meaningfully engaging with people living in encampments and those who support them on an ongoing basis.
- Finding solutions that offer adequate housing and the supports people may need.
The use of a human rights based approach, which includes people living in encampments in the design and delivery of durable solutions, is a win win for a community. This approach not only improves the quality of life and health of people living in encampments, but it also helps to find long term solutions that address people's real needs. Furthermore, meaningful engagement that is truly rooted in human rights principles provides more effective and sustainable rights based solutions than time consuming court proceedings.
Earlier this month, my Office published A Guide to Meaningful Engagement and Integrating a Human Rights-Based Approach into Encampment Responses. This resource has been developed to provide additional guidance to municipalities and other levels of government on how to put into practice a human rights based approach when it comes to encampment responses. Recognizing that forced evictions of encampments are a violation of human rights and that they are inherently harmful, this guide encourages municipalities to explore alternatives rooted in human rights principles and to value meaningful engagement of people living in encampments.
Permanent, adequate housing
People should be provided with a variety of housing options and locations that meet their needs, are accessible and are adapted to their personal situation. It is important to allow people to make choices and take control over their lives.
During my review, I heard repeatedly that spaces in an emergency shelter or other temporary accommodation are not necessarily a better solution for someone living in an encampment. Spaces in emergency shelters do not offer security of tenure and may be inaccessible or unsafe for many people. They do not always consider the cultural needs of Indigenous people, the needs of people with disabilities and can be unsafe for women and members of the 2SLGBTQQIA+ community.
Emergency shelters should not be seen as a mandatory step before someone can access permanent and adequate housing. People have the capacity to transition directly to permanent housing without going to a shelter first. This underlines the need to assess the individual and collective needs of people living in encampments and avoid putting in place obstacles to their social integration and ability to access adequate housing.
It is also critical to ensure that the transitional and supportive housing that is offered is compliant with human rights principles. Residents in these buildings should be afforded the same rights as tenants as per the landlord and tenant regulations in force in the province.
Continued engagement and solutions in Waterloo Region
I understand that the Region of Waterloo recently passed a Site-Specific By-law, Bylaw 25-021, related to the encampment that requires it to be cleared by December 1, 2025, and that consideration of this By-law is currently before the courts. I am concerned that there was no consultation with the encampment residents in developing and passing Bylaw 25-021, or in developing its plan to clear the encampment in the coming months.
I understand that the Region has a team dedicated to working with residents of the encampment. However, the fact that there is a pre-determined outcome (i.e., clearing out the encampment by November 30, 2025) undermines trust and the possibilities for meaningful engagement. Consultations are a mere formality when decisions have already been made, making it clear to encampment residents that their input is not important. It is not enough to claim to adopt a human rights based approach; it is essential to take actions that lead to rights being protected and a real improvement in the lives of people living in encampments. This must not be limited to efforts to ensure access to adequate housing but must also include immediate measures to respect human dignity and protect lives until adequate long-term housing solutions are available in sufficient quantities and adapted to meet people's needs.
Building and maintaining the trust of people living in encampments is an essential component of a human rights based approach. These relationships must demonstrate transparency, accountability and integrity. Although the Region on the one hand has a team of support workers to assist encampment residents in accessing housing, on the other hand, the Region is bringing harmful litigation against the residents of the encampment. It is impossible to build trust in this context. The process the Region of Waterloo has undertaken undermines the authenticity required to bring about positive change through a genuine engagement process.
In addition, I find it troubling that Bylaw 25-021 requires the Region to only engage with encampment residents that were living at the encampment prior to the Bylaw being passed and says nothing about the need to engage with any people who entered the encampment after the Bylaw was enacted.
Before proposing solutions, it is important for municipalities to take time to learn about and understand the experiences of people living in encampments and to consider that people choose to live in encampments because housing and emergency shelters are unavailable, inaccessible or do not provide the safety and security they need.
Durable solutions will only come about when the responses address the real issues and needs identified by the people living in encampments. This cannot be done without a commitment to meaningful engagement. Meaningful engagement takes time and requires the investment of resources. However, when such engagement processes are implemented authentically with genuine intention to bring about positive change, there is a much greater chance of identifying concrete solutions that respect the rights of people living in encampments – instead of band-aid fixes that waste time and taxpayer money, and further harm the people affected.
Indigenous rights
I also feel compelled to highlight that, as a direct result of colonization and displacement, Indigenous Peoples are acutely over-represented in Canada's population of people experiencing homelessness and living in encampments. Encampment responses must recognize and respect the rights found in the United Nations Declaration on the Right of Indigenous Peoples. Métis, Inuit, and First Nations governments must be supported in managing and implementing housing solutions that reflect self governance and community-specific needs.
Urban Indigenous populations face distinct housing challenges, including inadequate access to culturally appropriate services as well as systemic barriers to affordable housing. Local Indigenous governments and leadership should be consulted in the design, delivery and monitoring of encampment responses. It is also critically important to ensure that the meaningful engagement with Indigenous people living in encampments is Indigenous led to promote genuine dialogue guided by mutual respect, good faith and the sincere desire to reach agreement.
In closing, when a human rights-based approach to encampments is put in place, it will build trust, encourage participation and engagement. It can also empower people to contribute to solutions that will provide appropriate, accessible and adequate long-term housing solutions and services as well as measures to address their immediate needs.
As you continue to plan for the construction of the new transit hub, I urge you to review my reports and recommendations so that you are fully aware of your human rights obligations and are able to ensure that your actions respect the human rights of people experiencing homelessness in the Region of Waterloo.
I would welcome an opportunity to engage in further dialogue with you to explore how my office and the findings in my recommendations can contribute to a human rights based response to encampments in the Region of Waterloo.
Yours sincerely,
Marie-Josée Houle
Federal Housing Advocate
Enclosures:
- Upholding dignity and human rights: The Federal Housing Advocate's review of homeless encampments
- Guide to Meaningful Engagement and Integrating a Human Rights-Based Approach into Encampment Responses
c.c.:
- Jan Liggett, City of Cambridge
- Doug Craig, City of Cambridge
- Pam Wolf, City of Cambridge
- Berry Vrbanovic, City of Kitchener
- Colleen James, City of Kitchener
- Michael Harris, City of Kitchener
- Matt Rodrigues, City of Kitchener
- Dorothy McCabe, City of Waterloo
- Jim Erb, City of Waterloo
- Chantal Huinink, City of Waterloo
- Sue Foxton, Township of North Dumfries
- Joe Nowak, Township of Wellesley
- Natasha Salonen, Township of Wilmot
- Sandy Shantz, Township