Neha: Review Panel on Homelessness Amongst Women and Gender-Diverse People
The upcoming review panel is called “Neha” and will examine the right to housing for women, Two Spirit, & gender-diverse people, and the government’s duty to uphold this right!
This review is based on two powerful Human Rights Claims submitted by the Women’s National Housing & Homelessness Network (WNHHN) and the National Indigenous Women’s Housing Network (NIWHN), highlighting the systemic and dignity issues of women, gender-diverse, and Two-Spirit people across the country.
The Federal Housing Advocate directed the National Housing Council to launch this human rights-based review panel on the Government of Canada’s failure to prevent and eliminate homelessness amongst women and gender-diverse people, and particularly those who are Indigenous. This issue has reached such a crisis point that the Federal Housing Advocate now recognizes it as one of the top human rights issues in Canada.
When Will This Review Panel Take Place?
This review panel is set to take place sometime in late 2024.
At the previous review panel, the panel hosted both a written hearing and virtual oral hearings. With Neha, the panel will conduct “dialogue” sessions, in which oral sessions will take place in select locations in-person and/or through a virtual format. This oral phase will aim to provide a safe, inclusive, culturally-appropriate and supportive space for the participants to share their knowledge and expertise on the issue. In addition to this oral phase of the review, the panel may also conduct a written phase.
Check out the National Housing Council’s Terms of Reference to learn more.
“This review panel will give people with lived experience of gender-based homelessness and housing precarity—as well as frontline and civil society allies—an opportunity to share their experiences and solutions, and hold the government accountable in a way that was not possible before.”
Overview of Review Panels
This will be the second human rights-based review panel to ever be conducted in Canada.
Review panels are one of the key human rights-based accountability mechanisms created under Canada’s right to housing legislation of 2019, the National Housing Strategy Act (NHSA). They offer a new avenue for access to justice that puts the experiences and dignity issues of those most affected by Canada’s housing policies and investments (or lack thereof) at the centre.
Review panels rely on public participation from individuals and communities, and involves multiple open hearings (written and oral) to gather evidence of systemic human rights violations in housing that will be used to create human rights-based findings and recommendations directed to the Government of Canada.
The National Right to Housing Network would like to thank the following funders and organizations for making our work around the review panel possible:
