Introduction
The Canadian Human Rights Commission (CHRC) and the Office of the Federal Housing Advocate (OFHA) have legislated mandates to monitor human rights. Together, we are establishing a framework to monitor the right to adequate housing for people with disabilities in Canada. This framework helps to assess whether Canada is meeting its human rights obligations under Canadian and international laws, including the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD) and the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights. Our work is designed to assist the Government of Canada in fulfilling its responsibility to monitor and report on its human rights obligations.
This monitoring framework tracks housing outcomes, policy efforts and government resources (i.e., spending) in the following eleven areas: institutionalization; homelessness; accessibility; availability of supports and services; discrimination and dignity; affordability; security of tenure; safety; habitability; location; and cultural adequacy. You can find the indicators for all eleven areas on our website.Footnote 1
In 2025, we collected data for these indicators from a number of available sources and produced outcome indicator reports which highlight the challenges that people with disabilities continue to face in realizing their right to adequate housing. The results showed persistent gaps between people with disabilities and people without disabilities across multiple dimensions of housing, services, and community life. Key findings include:
- People with disabilities report lower feelings of safety in their homes and are more likely to be housebound. They experience higher barriers to housing overall, including increased likelihood of experiencing homelessness and hidden homelessness.
- Women with disabilities face the greatest challenges in accessing government services.
- Affordability remains a major challenge. People with disabilities are more likely to live in unaffordable housing, fall behind on payments, and wait longer for subsidized options. They also report lower satisfaction with available space and higher rates of unsuitable or overcrowded housing, particularly among women with disabilities.
- People with disabilities report lower satisfaction with their sense of belonging and neighbourhood quality.
- Many people with disabilities live in homes that do not meet their accessibility needs and publicly owned social and affordable housing rarely includes accessible features.
- Significant unmet support needs at home are compounded by challenges such as unsafe drinking water, poorer air quality, and difficulty maintaining comfortable temperatures.
- Concerns about mould, pests, and repair needs are more common, with these issues even more pronounced among Indigenous people with disabilities.
The data collected provides a baseline by which we can monitor whether housing outcomes are improving for people with disabilities in Canada. The recommendations outlined here are informed by those baseline results and should be revisited as new data becomes available.
We recognize housing as a human right in policy and practice. Affordability measures should go beyond market logic and reflect the human right to adequate housing. This requires prioritizing those most at risk of homelessness and housing insecurity, which the data shows includes people with disabilities. This also requires ensuring that clear accountability mechanisms are in place when governments fail to meet human rights standards.
We call on the federal government to work with provincial, territorial, and municipal governments to coordinate and implement the actions outlined below. The recommendations that follow are grounded in findings from the monitoring framework and our engagement with people with disabilities. They reflect findings across nine outcome indicators: institutionalization, homelessness, accessibility, availability of supports and services, affordability, security of tenure, safety, habitability and location. Together, these sources provide the evidence base for the recommended actions and establish the context for the issues addressed in this report.
Recommendations
The following recommendations are presented as a coordinated set of measures to advance disability rights, strengthen supports, and uphold the right to housing. While the recommendations address specific indicator areas, some degree of overlap is intentional and reflects the interconnected nature of these issues. Many barriers faced by people with disabilities cut across policy domains, meaning that effective solutions must also be cross-cutting. As a result, certain themes recur across multiple indicators, highlighting the significant role they can play in advancing the rights of people with disabilities.
1. Institutionalization
Institutionalization indicators help monitor how many people with disabilities live in collective dwellings, such as nursing homes, residences for seniors, and residential care facilities including group homes for people with disabilities or addictions. These indicators are essential for assessing progress toward the right to live independently and be included in the community, as outlined in Article 19 of CRPD. Article 19 affirms that people with disabilities must have real choice in where and with whom they live, access to the supports they need to live independently, and equal access to community services and facilities. With respect to this indicator, the CHRC and OFHA call on the federal government to implement the following actions:
- Ensure that all people with disabilities can live with dignity, independently, and with real choice in their communities. An unacceptable number of people with disabilities, including many under the age of 55, are forced to live in long-term care facilities intended for seniors because accessible housing and supports are not available in the communities where they choose to live. This is especially true in rural areas. Canada should provide adequate community-based supports to ensure that appropriate alternatives to institutionalization are available for people with disabilities, so they can live with dignity and independence and make meaningful choices about where and how they live. Governments should expand access to accessible and affordable housing, financial support, transportation, personal care, and community-based support for people with disabilities of all ages, with particular attention to youth and working-age adults who are currently institutionalized or at risk of institutionalization.
- Create and expand funding programs for people with disabilities to hire and manage their own support workers. All provinces and territories should offer individualized funding programs. Where these programs exist, the definition of “employer” should be broadened to include people with disabilities and their communities of care, including the trusted people who help them manage employer responsibilities and youth with disabilities who may need support with these tasks. Program rules should also allow people to hire trusted friends and family members as support workers.
- Investigate gendered disparities in institutionalization and access to community living for people with disabilities. Men with disabilities are over-represented in residential care facilities, which may reflect differences in health needs, service access, or barriers to meeting care and accessibility needs in the community. At the same time, this pattern may mask unmet needs among women and gender-diverse people with disabilities, including under-identification in administrative data, hidden homelessness, or safety-related barriers that limit their ability to leave unsafe living situations or access appropriate housing and supports. The federal government should lead research using a Gender based-Analysis Plus and intersectional approach, in collaboration with provinces, territories, municipalities, and disability organizations, to identify the causes of these disparities and actions to remove barriers to accessible housing and community-based supports for all genders.
- Create national standards for group homes for children and youth. The federal government should lead the development of national standards to set clear, consistent rules and expectations for group homes serving children and youth. These standards should give due consideration to “emerging adults” aged 18-24, who have aged out of many supports and services aimed at children, as well as the developmental age of residents vs. their chronological age. They should also include guidelines for the care of children and youth with disabilities. Furthermore, children and youth with disabilities, their families, and service providers should be meaningfully consulted to ensure that the rules governing group homes reflect their rights, meet their needs, and protect their safety and well-being.
- Improve disability data collection across all institutional and shared living environments. Statistics Canada should lead research on this issue, in collaboration with provinces, territories, and municipalities to include disability-related questions in all data collected on people living in prisons, shelters, hospitals, group homes, rooming houses, and other collective living settings. Disability screening questions should be added to the Census of Collective Dwellings to accurately identify the number of people with disabilities living in institutional care and understand their support needs. National surveys, including the Canadian Survey on Disability and the Canadian Housing Survey, should also capture the full range of housing barriers experienced by people with disabilities in these settings. This data should be disaggregated to reflect the diverse and intersectional experiences of people with disabilities. Given the negative history of institutionalization for Indigenous Peoples, it is particularly important to track the numbers of First Nations, Inuit and Métis people living in institutional and shared living environments. More complete data would help to better coordinate services and help ensure that the needs of people with disabilities are fully recognized in policy and program decisions.
- Improve coordinated data collection on children and youth with disabilities across Canada. There is a serious lack of data on children and youth with disabilities. The federal government should work with provincial, territorial, and municipal governments to coordinate data collection that identifies their needs, including children and youth involved in the child welfare system and youth justice system. Data should be disaggregated to reflect the diverse and intersectional experiences of children and youth with disabilities. Given the negative history of institutionalization for Indigenous children and youth, it is particularly important to track the numbers of First Nations, Inuit and Métis people living in institutional and shared living environments. This information should guide funding decisions, service planning, and investments in infrastructure and services.
- Sign, ratify and implement the Optional Protocol to the Convention against Torture without delay. To align Canada with international standards on independent oversight of places of deprivation of liberty, the CHRC continues to call on Canada to ratify the Optional Protocol to the Convention against Torture. This is an issue that extends far beyond the prison system and affects those in the most vulnerable circumstances, including people with disabilities who are institutionalized in inappropriate facilities due to a lack of adequate community-based supports. The Optional Protocol to the Convention against Torture could offer a framework for more consistent and proactive human rights protections for people who are detained across all jurisdictions and would include designating an appropriate National Preventive Mechanism to ensure ongoing and enhanced independent oversight, monitoring and reporting in all places of detention.
- Strengthen protections for residents in all forms of housing. Federal, provincial, territorial, and municipal governments should close legislative gaps that leave people in group homes, supportive housing and other specialized housing types without adequate protection from eviction or forced moves. These residents should have the same legal safeguards and security of tenure as those in traditional rental housing.
View the full resource page on institutionalization.
2. Homelessness
Homelessness is a serious violation of the right to adequate housing. It occurs when people do not have a stable, safe, and permanent place to live. Homelessness can be visible, such as sleeping outside or in shelters. It can also be hidden, such as temporarily staying with friends or family without secure housing. For many people with disabilities, homelessness risk is shaped by barriers such as poverty, inaccessible housing, and the lack of appropriate supports and services. With respect to this indicator, the CHRC and OFHA call on the federal government to implement the following actions:
- Coordinate housing and homelessness programs across all levels of government. Federal, provincial, territorial, and municipal governments should ensure that people with disabilities have improved access to safe, accessible and affordable housing no matter where they live.
- Prevent homelessness by ensuring that income supports keep up with real housing costs (including rent/mortgage and utilities). Federal, provincial, territorial, and municipal governments should prevent homelessness for people with disabilities by ensuring that government transfers keep up with increasing housing costs. At the federal level, the Canadian Disability Benefit, Canada Housing Benefit and other income support should be increased to reflect actual housing costs. At the provincial level, housing subsidies and social assistance programs for people with disabilities should be increased. Income supports and housing subsidies should complement each other in a way that people with disabilities can stack their benefits. Municipalities should help facilitate, monitor and coordinate access to rent banks and housing subsidies.
- Ensure that eligibility rules for benefits do not create economic dependence or put people at risk of homelessness. For example, a member of a couple should not be put at risk of homelessness when relationships end.
- Improve accessibility and safety in municipal shelters. Shelters should meet accessibility standards for both buildings and services. They should also address the safety and security needs of women and gender diverse people.
- Ensure the needs of people with disabilities in pathways out of homelessness and increase access to accessible housing. Federal, provincial, territorial, and municipal governments should increase the supply of social, deeply affordable and accessible housing, including new construction and renovation of existing units.
- Ensure the needs of people with disabilities experiencing hidden homelessness are included when considering priority placement programs for social and affordable housing.
- Strengthen homelessness prevention programs for people with disabilities. Federal, provincial, and territorial governments should expand homelessness prevention programs to ensure that people with disabilities have access to safe and accessible housing when they face relationship breakdowns, economic hardship, or health challenges. This includes improving access to rent banks, housing subsidies, and low-interest or no-interest housing loans. Municipalities should also help facilitate, monitor, and coordinate access to these supports.
View the full resource page on homelessness.
3. Accessibility
Accessibility is a core element of the right to adequate housing [PDF]. According to the United Nations, adequate housing must be accessible, and that disadvantaged groups, including older persons and persons with disabilities, must have full access to adequate housing resources. The CRPD defines universal design as designing environments to be usable by all people, to the greatest extent possible, without the need for adaptation or specialized design. With respect to this indicator, the CHRC and OFHA call on the federal government to implement the following actions:
- Ensure that the Canadian Survey on Disability captures the accessibility needs of people with all types of disabilities. The survey should go beyond physical limitations (such as mobility, dexterity or flexibility). Data collection should align with the Accessible Canada Act definition of disability and consultations with people with disabilities on key housing barriers and on accessible data collection methods should be held.
- Improve access to home accessibility supports and modifications for people with disabilities and those who would like to age in place. The federal government should work with provincial, territorial, and municipal governments to coordinate funding for physical aids and home modifications that enable people with disabilities to live independently or with family, friends, or dependents. People should be involved in identifying their needs and should be supported, including being provided alternative accommodation if needed, while renovations are taking place to meet their accessibility needs. Programs should explicitly address the disproportionate unmet needs of women and gender-diverse people with disabilities and ensure targeted, equitable access to supports.
- Improve the consultation process for changes to the National Building Code to give people a meaningful opportunity to engage in the development of the Code. Strengthen accessibility requirements and include the CAN/ASC-2.8:2025 – Accessible-Ready Housing Standard in the 2030 version of the National Build Code. The federal government should use its spending and policy levers to incentivize provincial and territorial adoption of the updated Code.
- Ensure that federal housing investments do not perpetuate barriers to housing for people with disabilities by integrating accessibility-ready requirements aligned with the CAN/ASC-2.8:2025 – Accessible-Ready Housing Standard into federal housing programs and funding. This approach is operationalized through CMHC's Housing Design Catalogue and its pre-approved blueprint designs and should be scaled to advance accessibility outcomes.
- Embed accessibility as a core requirement in the development of new affordable and non-market housingFootnote 2. The federal government should work with provincial, territorial, and municipal governments to ensure that new affordable and non-market housing investments prioritize accessible-ready design, so that newly created units do not introduce or perpetuate accessibility barriers. Programs should explicitly address the disproportionate unmet needs of women and gender-diverse people with disabilities and ensure targeted, equitable access to supports. Ten percent of new builds should be accessible and governments should work towards a target of 100% of new construction being accessible-ready.
- Expand accessibility within existing affordable housing stock. The federal government should work with provincial, territorial, and municipal governments to prioritize funding for maintaining existing accessible units in good repair and for upgrading existing non-accessible units, where feasible, to better meet the accessibility needs of people with disabilities. Programs should explicitly address the disproportionate unmet needs of women and gender-diverse people with disabilities and ensure targeted, equitable access to supports.
View the full resource page on accessibility.
4. Supports and services
Supports and services are a key component of adequate housing [PDF] for people with disabilities. They include the disability-related supports needed to live independently, as well as equal access to basic services like safe drinking water, heat, electricity, and internet. Housing is not adequate if people with disabilities cannot obtain the supports and services required to live safely, with dignity, and on an equal basis with others. With respect to this indicator, the CHRC and OFHA call on the federal government to implement the following actions:
- Expand access to disability supports and services across all stages of life. Many people with disabilities in Canada are not receiving the supports and services they need to live independently. Federal, provincial, territorial, and municipal governments should invest in making supports easier to find and use, more affordable and consistently available as people's needs change over time. This includes providing services that are accessible throughout a person's life, not only during crisis periods. Community groups should be supported with the funding they need to provide wraparound supports and services for people with disabilities.
- Broaden the scope of support plans. Service programs should go beyond medical or physical needs and include daily living tasks such as cleaning, meal preparation, and heavy household chores. Governments and service providers should acknowledge that living independently means more than meeting one's physical or medical needs.
- Protect people with disabilities from extreme temperatures, with priority support for women and gender-diverse single parents. Provinces and territories should update their residential tenancy regulations to include minimum and maximum indoor temperature standards, ensuring that rental units are safe during heat waves and winter cold. Landlords should be responsible for maintaining climate-resilient housing. People with disabilities, especially women and gender-diverse people who are single parents, who report the highest levels of difficulty maintaining comfortable temperatures, should receive priority access to rebates and financial assistance for energy-efficient heating and cooling systems.
- Guarantee equitable internet access. The number of people with disabilities across Canada that do not use the internet because they do not have access to it has increased between 2017 and 2022. This is despite the increasingly important role that the internet plays in peoples' access to services. The federal government should review Canada's Connectivity Strategy to ensure equitable measures are being taken to include people with disabilities, recognizing that digital connection is essential to accessing services, education, healthcare, and income support.
View the full resource page on supports and services.
5. Affordability
Affordability is a core element of the right to adequate housing [PDF]. According to the United Nations, housing is not affordable if its cost forces people to sacrifice other basic needs such as food, healthcare, transportation, or essential supports. For many people with disabilities, affordability also includes the ability to pay for disability-related expenses while remaining securely housed. With respect to this indicator, the CHRC and OFHA call on the federal government to implement the following actions:
- Increase the supply of social and affordable housing specifically designed for people with disabilities, including supportive and accessible units. Federal, provincial, territorial, and municipal governments should use rent caps, deeply subsidized units, and housing benefits that are tenant-based, not unit-based, to keep rents at levels people can realistically afford. Governments should also adopt vacancy control to prevent sudden rent increases when units turn over, ensuring that affordable rental homes remain affordable over time.
- Ensure disability income supports are adequate, stable and accessible to all people with disabilities, with particular attention to women and gender diverse people who face the highest barriers. Disability income programs should provide enough to cover the real cost of living, including housing, food, clothing, transportation, and disability-related expenses, and should be indexed to inflation so payments do not lose value over time. Governments should also remove administrative, eligibility and systemic barriers that disproportionately prevent women and gender-diverse people from accessing benefits. Programs should address the intersections between disability, chronic poverty, low incomes and lack of affordable housing, which contribute to higher rates of homelessness among these populations.
- End financial penalties for working, partnering, or moving. People with disabilities should not be forced to choose between income and independence. Governments should remove claw backs and other rules that reduce or cancel benefits in a way that prevents them from practicing their independence and having access to adequate housing that meets their needs. People have shared stories of losing their benefits after moving in with a partner, getting married, moving to a different town or province, or getting a job.
- Coordinate housing and disability supports. Federal, provincial, territorial, and municipal governments should align their housing programs, rent subsidies, disability benefits, and health supports so they supplement one another. Currently, these programs often operate in silos, and some eligibility rules can conflict with one another, resulting in people losing housing supports when they receive disability benefits, or vice versa. Supports should be simple to apply for, portable across regions, long-term and designed with people with disabilities, not just for them.
- Enhance the Canada Disability Benefit to lift people out of poverty. The Canada Disability Benefit should be high enough to cover housing and other essential needs, account for regional cost differences, and be protected from claw backs by other income or housing programs. The benefit should work with, not against, existing supports.
- Collect and publish better disability-disaggregated housing data. Federal, provincial, territorial, and municipal governments should track and report how many people with disabilities live in unaffordable housing, how long they wait for housing, and how housing affordability varies by disability type, gender, race, and region. This includes ensuring that national housing surveys, such as the Canadian Housing Survey, continue to use the Disability Screening Questions so that disability can be accurately and consistently measured over time.
View the full resource page on affordability.
6. Security of tenure
Security of tenure is a key component of the right to adequate housing [PDF]. It means that everyone should have legal protection against arbitrary eviction, harassment, or forced displacement, regardless of whether they rent, own, or live in other forms of housing. In practice, security of tenure ensures that people can live in their homes with stability and dignity. With respect to this indicator, the CHRC and OFHA call on the federal government to implement the following actions:
- Strengthen housing legislation to protect security of tenure for people with disabilities. Federal, provincial, territorial, and municipal governments should update housing legislation to better protect the right to adequate housing, including security of tenure, for people with disabilities. Because homeowners in Canada have greater security of tenure and people with disabilities are more likely to be renters, governments should improve real protections for renters to ensure fair treatment for all tenants. Provincial and territorial reforms should align with the federal Renters' Bill of Rights by ensuring fair leases, transparent rent pricing, and stronger safeguards against arbitrary eviction and discrimination.
- Increase affordable homeownership opportunities for people with disabilities. Government and housing agencies should increase the supply of affordable housing by including affordable home ownership programs that target the barriers that people with disabilities and other marginalized communities face when trying to purchase a home.
- Ensure all renters have access to due process, including formal notice in case of evictions. All evictions should be done using the provinces' or territories' formal and legal eviction process and result only by legal decision of an adjudicator. Any tenant facing an eviction should be provided a formal Notice of Eviction.
- Prevent evictions by guaranteeing meaningful access to justice. Federal, provincial, territorial, and municipal governments should reform tenancy and eviction laws so that eviction is no longer treated as an acceptable outcome. Instead, the law should require that all other options, such as repayment plans, rent relief, mediation, or support services, are offered and exhausted. Tenants should have automatic access to legal representation, as well as fair hearing processes that accommodate their disabilities to ensure no one loses their home because they cannot navigate the system or afford a lawyer.
- Create resources to help address conflicts between tenants with disabilities and landlords or neighbours. Federal, provincial, territorial, and municipal governments should fund research and tenant support initiatives to better understand and resolve conflicts that disproportionately affect tenants with disabilities. These situations can be linked to disability-related needs, like having several support workers visit during the day, and these realities should be taken into account when deciding on evictions or resolving disputes.
- Improve access to legal aid and make landlords more accountable. Federal, provincial, territorial, and municipal governments should make legal advice and tenant support easier to access [PDF] so that people with disabilities and low-income renters can understand and defend their housing rights. There should be stronger systems in place to hold landlords accountable, ensuring they treat housing as a human right [PDF] and face consequences if they engage in bullying or harassment.
View the full resource page on security of tenure.
Safety
Safety is a core part of adequate housing [PDF]. It means that people with disabilities can live free from violence, abuse, neglect, and health risks in their homes and communities. Housing is not adequate if it exposes people to physical danger, unsafe conditions, or harm during emergencies. The goal is for people with disabilities to feel and be safe where they live. With respect to this indicator, the CHRC and OFHA call on the federal government to implement the following actions:
- Strengthen neighbourhood safety and housing protections. Federal, provincial, territorial, and municipal governments should work with disability communities to ensure that people with disabilities feel safe in their homes and neighbourhoods. This includes funding accessible community-based safety initiatives, strengthening legal protections against harassment and hate-motivated violence, and requiring housing providers to respond promptly and effectively to safety concerns in their units and on the property reported by tenants with disabilities.
- Ensure dedicated funding for tenant engagement and community integration. Federal, provincial, territorial, and municipal governments should provide dedicated funding for tenant engagement programs designed to reduce isolation and loneliness, which can lead to significant declines in mental and physical health. Social assistance programs should also incorporate supports and funding that promote community integration of people with disabilities and recognize associated costs.
- Implement trauma-informed housing and supports. Federal, provincial, territorial, and municipal governments should develop and spread trauma-informed housing programs and supports that address the unique needs of women and gender diverse people with disabilities. Given that more than half of women who have experienced homelessness or hidden homelessness were fleeing abuse or violence, programs should ensure access to safe, secure and affordable housing options to prevent survivors from returning to unsafe environments.
- Integrate measures of gender-based violence into national housing surveys. Statistics Canada and other federal departments should include measures of gender-based violence in national housing surveys, including the Canadian Housing Survey. Experts in the gender-based violence sector should be consulted to incorporate best practices that safeguard the online safety of women and gender diverse people in national surveys.
View the full resource page on safety.
8. Habitability
Habitability is a core element of the right to adequate housing [PDF]. According to the United Nations, housing is not considered adequate if it does not guarantee physical safety or provide sufficient space, and if it fails to protect occupants from cold, damp, heat, rain, wind, structural risks, or other threats to health and well-being. Adequate housing should therefore ensure that people with disabilities are not forced to live in conditions that endanger their physical or mental health, expose them to environmental hazards, or prevent them from living in dignity. With respect to this indicator, the CHRC and OFHA call on the federal government to implement the following actions:
- Ensure that housing assistance programs meet the habitability, space, and household needs of all people with disabilities, with targeted support for women with disabilities, single parents, and families who face the highest levels of dissatisfaction. Federal, provincial, territorial, and municipal governments should provide access to homes that are appropriately-sized, safe, and suitable for people with disabilities. Programs should also account for disability-related space needs, including room for mobility devices, assistive equipment, medical supplies, and caregivers, and address the higher risks of overcrowding or inadequate space.
- Improve the quality of housing with subsidies for people with disabilities through major repairs, stronger regulation of maintenance standards, and accessible, enforceable repair pathways. Federal, provincial, and municipal governments should coordinate their investments to repair and renew aging subsidized housing stock and ensure that it is retrofitted to withstand a changing climate. Non-Market Housing providers should be required to maintain safe, well-maintained units and offer accessible ways for tenants to report repairs. Funding should be tied to measurable improvements in habitability and resident outcomes, with priority for people with disabilities and Indigenous households who face the highest need for repairs.
- Ensure that the proposed federal Renters' Bill of Rights guarantees timely access to necessary repairs and protects people with disabilities from retaliation or intimidation after submitting repair requests. Clear enforcement mechanisms and penalties for non-compliance should be included.
- Conduct regular evaluations of housing policies and programs for people with disabilities and ensure that housing assistance programs meet their needs. Data should be broken down by disability type, gender, Indigenous identity, and household composition. Governments should address key data gaps, including information on repairs paid out-of-pocket, pest control costs, space adequacy, overcrowding experiences, and housing satisfaction, to inform better policies and programs.
- Recognize mould as a serious health and human rights issue by making mould remediation an eligible expense for all people with disabilities, and ensure Indigenous people, including those living off-reserve, who experience the highest rates of mould-related dissatisfaction, have equitable access to timely culturally safe remediation services.
- Improve pest management services for households with people with disabilities through coordinated funding across public health, housing, and social service programs, ensuring timely, affordable and accessible responses. Priority support should be given to low-income households who face health risks and financial barriers.
View the full resource page on habitability.
9. Location
Location is a key element of the right to adequate housing [PDF]. The following indicators allow for the monitoring of the percentage of people with disabilities who live near public services and facilities, schools and childcare services, health services, grocery stores, public transportation, and who are satisfied with their neighbourhoods. With respect to this indicator, the CHRC and OFHA call on the federal government to implement the following actions:
- Reintroduce questions on access to government services in national disability data surveys. Access to government services is mandated under the Accessible Canada Act, yet national disability data no longer captures this information. The Canadian Survey on Disability should reintroduce questions on access to government services to allow governments to monitor regional gaps, understand barriers faced by people with disabilities and improve service delivery across communities.
- Expand investments that make community life fully accessible. People with disabilities continue to face barriers to participating in community activities, programs and events. Governments should invest in accessible community resources to ensure people with disabilities can participate equally and feel included in community life.
- Conduct accessibility audits of public spaces and services. Federal, provincial, territorial, and municipal governments should assess public spaces, transit systems, and community facilities through regular accessibility audits to identify, remove and prevent barriers. The COVID-19 pandemic negatively affected neighbourhood satisfaction for people with disabilities. These audits should involve people with disabilities and align with the requirements of the Accessible Canada Act.
- Invest in inclusive design for outdoor public spaces. Federal, provincial, territorial, and municipal governments should fund inclusive design for parks, sidewalks and recreation areas to enhance mobility, safety and usability for people with disabilities.
View the full resource page on location.