The Right to Adequate Housing Charter Challenge
Who is involved in the case:
In Toronto, Ontario, on May 26, 2010, a historic legal case was launched. The applicants in this case are facing the broad spectrum of inadequate housing: some have been or are currently homeless, some are living in homes that aren’t suitable for their families or which do not accommodate their disabilities, and some are afraid of being evicted because they can’t afford the rent but the apartment was all they could find. The human rights and housing organization – Centre for Equality Rights in Accommodation is also involved, representing their members who have faced discrimination in rental housing and homelessness. Lawyers from the private bar and the legal clinic – the Advocacy Centre for Tenants Ontario, are representing the applicants in this case.
What is the case about?
Homelessness in Canada has reached crisis levels. The federal and provincial governments have created this national emergency by cancelling programs and funding, and by failing to ensure that existing programs and policies effectively address homelessness and inadequate housing. Canada is one of the few countries in the world without a national housing strategy. Canada’s failure to respond to the homelessness crisis is in violation of its international commitments, including the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. It also violates the Charter of Rights and Freedoms and specifically, s.7 which guarantees the right to life, liberty, and security of the person and s.15 which guarantees the equal protection and benefit of the law without discrimination.
What can be achieved?
The applicants are asking for more than the simple right to shelter. Under the Charter, people in Canada have a right to adequate, affordable housing. The court is being asked to declare that homelessness and inadequate housing violate the Charter of Rights and Freedoms, and that the government must develop a national and provincial strategy to end homelessness.
It’s important to spark public imagination to think about the issue of housing differently. It’s hoped that the litigation will be one part of a broader project of education, organization and mobilization.
