The National Housing Council identified the progressive realization of the right to adequate housing as one of its 3 priority areas for 2021 and 2022 and commissioned the National Right to Housing Network (NRHN) to conduct a review and analysis of both international and domestic literature on this topic. They will be using this research to help inform their future recommendations to the Minister of Housing, Diversity, and Inclusion.
In this literature review, we offer a concrete vision for what the progressive realization of the right to adequate housing should look like in the Canadian context and identify the responsibilities of all levels of government in driving forward this vision.
Some key questions we address in this literature review are:
- What is adequate housing?
- What is progressive realization?
- What has each level of government committed to with respect to progressively realizing the right to adequate housing?
- What are the duties and responsibilities of each level of government in realizing this right? How can various levels of government better collaborate and coordinate to fulfill their shared responsibilities?
- What has the government accomplished so far and what are the next steps?
- What barriers are in place to progressively realizing the right to adequate housing, legally and otherwise?
- What international metrics and best practices can we draw from to measure and strengthen our efforts to realize the right to adequate housing in Canada?
- What role do private, non-profit, and public sector actors play with respect to progressively realizing the right to adequate housing?