Adequate Housing

Housing is a human right

Housing has now been declared as a human right in Canada. In 2019, Parliament passed the National Housing Strategy Act. The Act recognizes housing as a human right. It commits organizations and governments to:

• Reform housing laws, policies and programs
• Involve communities in meaningful ways

Based on the Act, Canada must set specific timelines and goals in its housing strategy that make tangible progress towards the right to housing. We must prioritize the most vulnerable groups and those in greatest need of housing while it works towards housing as a human right for all.

Adequate Housing that is safe, suitable, and affordable is necessary for people in Oxford to have housing security and experience well-being.

Social Planning Council Oxford is working with community partners to find solutions to respond to our current housing crisis.

Oxford Tenant Support Network

Social Planning Council Oxford was part of a two-tiered project consisting of interviewing people who have been displaced from their rental homes, and creating a tenant initiative. View The Many Faces of Urban and Rural Displacement report to see the results of the interviews. 

For the local tenant initiative, a group of six context expert volunteers with experience with displacement created the Oxford Tenant Support Network (OTSN), a peer support program to inform tenants of their options and rights. This filled in the following gaps identified by partner organizations:

• Knowledge: Many tenants are unaware of their rights under the Residential Tenancies Act and don’t know where to find resources. 
• Upstream Eviction Prevention: Too many tenants leave their homes without due process causing them to pay more for a new unit and causing the rent of the old unit to increase due to vacancy decontrol.
• Empowerment: Renters are often bullied or coerced into rent increases and evictions. By increasing tenants’ knowledge, we hope to increase their confidence in resisting intimidation.

For more information, check out our OTSN page.

Housing is a human right

Housing has now been declared as a human right in Canada. In 2019, Parliament passed the National Housing Strategy Act. The Act recognizes housing as a human right. It commits organizations and governments to:

• Reform housing laws, policies and programs
• Involve communities in meaningful ways

Based on the Act, Canada must set specific timelines and goals in its housing strategy that make tangible progress towards the right to housing. We must prioritize the most vulnerable groups and those in greatest need of housing while it works towards housing as a human right for all.

Adequate Housing that is safe, suitable, and affordable is necessary for people in Oxford to have housing security and experience well-being.

Social Planning Council Oxford is working with community partners to find solutions to respond to our current housing crisis.