Background

One of the key drivers of Canada’s housing crisis has been found, again and again, to be the financialization of housing—the treatment of housing as a financial asset and tool for maximizing profit at the expense of human rights among tenants and tenancy-seeking individuals (i.e. people experiencing homelessness).

The National Right to Housing Network, along with 25+ partners across the housing justice sector, is calling on the new federal government to create a plan within its first 100 days to genuinely implement the recommendations it received from the financialization review panel in May 2024.

“The housing market, left to its own devices, is not delivering what is needed.

Some financial actors make it their business to purchase rental housing units and manage these buildings strictly to produce a short-term financial return for their investors—this is the financialization of rental housing, and the review panel heard sufficient evidence to conclude that this practice, if left unregulated, can seriously harm those who live in these rental units. 

The federal government has a role to play in convening other orders of government to ensure that tenants in all parts of the country are protected from prejudicial practices or resulting evictions. The right to housing is a shared responsibility, but one where the Government of Canada must lead the way.”

– Sam Watts, Review Panel Chair

Top 5 Priorities for the Government’s First 100 Days: 

The financialization of housing is undermining the right to housing across Canada.

To respond meaningfully, in its first 100 days, the federal government must:

1. 1. Create a plan to foster better data collection on real tenant experiences
   2. Increase investment and re-open the Tenant Protection Fund to strengthen local organizing
   3. Invest in more community housing—public, co-op, and non-profit
   4. Align financial and investment practices with human rights principles
   5. Outline a plan to evaluate and implement a strategy on rent regulation – including rent and vacancy control

The status quo is not working. It’s time to treat housing as the fundamental human right that it is.

READ THE FULL Action Guide

Thank you to the Unifor Social Justice Fund for generously supporting this work!