Press Release: National Right to Housing Network Celebrates Commitment to End Homelessness in Budget 2026
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE – OTTAWA (November 5, 2026):
The National Right to Housing Network (NRHN) is encouraged by Budget 2026 and its explicit commitment to put Canada on the path to end homelessness across the country. This commitment to end homelessness, with a timeline to match, is a critical component of the progressive realization of the right to adequate housing and Canada’s right to housing law. Now it will be about making sure Canada’s next actions match that commitment.
Budget 2026 places a focus on increasing non-market housing stock, people in greatest housing need, and providing the much needed income and health supports required to help people maintain stable housing.
NRHN welcomes the commitment to triple the pace of non-market housing to 200,000 units over the next decade to get us started to increase our non-market housing supply to match other countries, since only 4% of our housing is currently non-market. We assume by “non-market” the federal government means social, non profit, co-op, public, community land trust housing.
Similarly, we welcome the renewal of Reaching Home and the Veterans Homelessness Program for another 10 years, with Reaching Home requiring rigorous reporting and real-time data as a condition for continued funding for provinces and territories to maximize outcomes.
Critically, one piece missing from the federal budget was significant measures to protect existing affordable housing stock. In Canada, 11 affordable housing units are lost for everyone 1 built, which means that without measures like rent control, vacancy control, and protection from renovictions in the private market, where over 95% of Canada’s housing stock lies, low-income tenants are in danger of becoming homeless.
“We’re hopeful that the upcoming bilateral agreements with provinces and territories, and upcoming National Housing Strategy, will include measures like rent and vacancy control that will protect existing affordable housing stock from egregious increases in rent that force low-income renters into homelessness,” says Michèle Biss, Executive Director of the National Right to Housing Network.
We similarly echo the concerns of our partners that there is no mention of urban, rural, and northern Indigenous housing.
The National Right to Housing Network looks forward to working with the federal government to help develop Canada’s new National Housing Strategy that will lift these commitments from paper to action, as required by Canada’s own right to housing law.
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Backgrounder
Canada has a right to housing law—the 2019 National Housing Strategy Act—that commits the federal government to advancing housing as a human right for all. This law requires the government to prioritize people in greatest housing need in all budgetary and policy decisions, use the maximum of available resources to address homelessness, and maintain a National Housing Strategy that includes clear goals, targets, and timelines to end homelessness in the shortest amount of time possible.
Further Reading
- National Right to Housing Network 2026 Pre-Budget Submission
- The Hill Times: ‘Public dollars for the public good’: next housing strategy needs to focus on highest-need groups, say advocates
For more information, contact:
Jessica Tan
Communications Lead
National Right to Housing Network
Email: jessica@housingrights.ca
Phone: 613-621-4575
