In November 2022, United Way BC’s Seniors Housing Working Group released the report Aging in Uncertainty: The Growing Housing Crisis for BC Seniors. This report highlights the impacts of the seniors housing precarity crisis in BC and identifies 6 goals and 16 specific recommendations to address the crisis. The Seniors Housing Working Group is committed to continuing to work to advance these goals and recommendations in 2024, and moving forward we will include a housing spotlight once a month in the CORE BC newsletter to highlight housing-related news, issues, and resources.
Spotlight – Housing as a Human Right
In the Aging in Uncertainty Report, our narrative is framed around the fact that housing is a human right. The right to adequate housing has been recognized as a basic human right in the United Nations’ Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Canada is a signatory to the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, and the right to housing has been enshrined in federal housing policy through the 2019 National Housing Strategy Act, which states, “It is declared to be the housing policy of the Government of Canada to (a) recognize that the right to adequate housing is a fundamental human right affirmed in international law.”
To learn more about housing as a human right please view the following resources:
- Webinar Recording: Housing is a human right: New actions to solve Canada’s ongoing crisis (Canadian Museum for Human Rights)
- Report: Advocating For Change: The Housing Crisis In Canada(Canadian Human Rights Commission)
- Video: The Right to Housing in Canada: An Explainer (Canadian Centre for Housing Rights)
