New data shows that people with disabilities face financial hardship, unsafe housing, and a lack of supports and services at far higher rates than people without disabilities.
Today, we mark International Human Rights Day and the anniversary of the signing of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Article 1 of the Declaration proclaims that all people are born free and equal in dignity and rights. Yet for many, this promise remains unfulfilled. To truly live up to those words, Canada must do a better job of ensuring that everyone across the country can live with dignity.
Over the course of 2022–2023, the Federal Housing Advocate made it a priority to meet with people who are directly affected by inadequate housing and homelessness.
On National Housing Day, Marie-Josée Houle, Federal Housing Advocate, issues the following statement. A version of this story was published in Le Devoir (French only) on November 22, 2024.
The groups, including Federal Housing Advocate Marie-Josée Houle, President of Métis Nation – Saskatchewan Glen McCallum, and Loretta King, Metis-Nation – Saskatchewan’s Infrastructure and Housing Minister, will also meet with federal ministers and senators in Ottawa that day to discuss the recommendations and advocate for solutions.
Across Canada, people continue to be forced to live in public spaces because they have nowhere else to go. This national human rights crisis calls for a national response.
A new monitoring project confirms that people with disabilities are overrepresented in nearly all aspects of inadequate housing and homelessness. It provides clear evidence of what people with disabilities in Canada have been saying for many years: their fundamental human right to housing is being violated.
We are monitoring the right to adequate housing for people with disabilities in Canada. 27% of Canadians have a disability. That's about 8 million people. We are looking at homelessness. Homelessness means not having a stable, safe, and permanent place to live.
The Federal Housing Advocate welcomes the new report by the review panel on the Financialization of Purpose-Built Rental Housing, which was released on May 29.
We are monitoring the right to adequate housing for people with disabilities in Canada. They face many barriers to housing. This needs to change.