New government presents renewed opportunity to advance its commitments to uphold housing as a human right for all in Canada

OTTAWA (April 29, 2025): The National Right to Housing Network (NRHN) congratulates Prime Minister Mark Carney and his newly elected federal government after last night’s historic election.

At a time where people across Canada are experiencing a worsening housing and affordability crisis, this moment offers a renewed opportunity for the federal government to act boldly and decisively to fully realize the right to housing in Canada by addressing the lack of affordable and adequate housing across the country, especially for those in greatest housing need.

“In 2019, the federal government committed to the human right to housing. But with growing inequality and a default to market driven solutions that don’t prioritize the “affordable” part of affordable housing, we’ve seen the homelessness crisis in Canada become more prevalent than ever before,” says Michele Biss, Executive Director of NRHN. “Like the goals we have set to reduce carbon emissions by 2030, I want to hear from the new federal government on their timeline of when Canada will end homelessness – and the plan to get us there and measure our progress along the way.” 

Canada committed to upholding housing as a fundamental human right under the National Housing Strategy Act—a critical piece of legislation introduced by the previous Liberal government in 2019. Yet, despite this commitment, Canada has continued to rely on market-driven solutions that has done little to address rising housing insecurity and homelessness across the country.

The NRHN is calling on the new government to fully fund and implement the commitments made under the National Housing Strategy Act, including:

• Meaningfully engage with those with lived experience of housing precarity and homelessness—including the recommendations from review panels (on the financialization of housing and 2Spirit, Women, and gender-diverse experiences of homelessness) and reviews by the Federal Housing Advocate (on government responses to encampments)—to develop concrete, measurable, evidence-based plans and solutions;
• Expand and protect deeply affordable, community housing (i.e. public, co-operative, and non-profit housing);
• Strengthen protections for renters including freezing no-fault evictions, as well as strengthening rent control and vacancy control.

“Millions across the country are living in unaffordable, unsafe, or inadequate housing—while Indigenous, racialized, low-income, and marginalized communities continue to bear the brunt of this crisis. The time for bold, rights-based action is now,” says Jessica Tan, Communications Lead of NRHN. “We stand ready to work with this government to turn promises into progress and ensure housing is treated not as a commodity, but as a human right.”

For more information visit, www.housingrights.ca 

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For more information, contact:

Jessica Tan
National Right to Housing Network
Phone: 613-621-4575
Email: jessica@housingrights.ca