We can’t let myths about the human right to housing hold us back

A few weeks ago, the Minister of Housing in Newfoundland and Labrador said he doesn’t know whether housing is a human right. Was he being cagey or sincere? We don’t know. But we do know that he’s not alone.

Many people in Canada are reluctant to say that every person has a human right to housing, whether because they don’t understand it, or because they’re afraid they’d have to do something about it. 

They often cite these common myths about the human right to housing:

Myth: The “human right to housing” is nothing more than an aspiration. It’s not practical.

Canada is a laggard on this right. It is not well understood or practiced, despite its long roots in international law and the promises we’ve made, including by signing UN covenants, that we will uphold it. These are not commitments that we can take lightly.

Many countries see the human right to housing the way we see the right to education and health care here: as a standard operating practice. They rely on an established body of practices and innovate new ways to advance the human right to housing. We need to catch up.

Myth: So, we immediately have to give everyone a house?

No. That’s simply false. The human right to housing means that we have to make progress towards everyone having a suitable home. This includes making sure enough homes are available for people, protecting tenants and homeowners so that they can keep their homes, and doing things to make sure people can afford a home.

Broadly, making progress means we have to make a plan and a budget, and measure how we’re doing. We can’t just do nothing. And we definitely can’t go backwards.

Myth: The government has no business building housing.

First, private sector builders and landlords don’t disappear when we recognize the human right to housing. They are and will remain an important part of our housing systems. But they do have to respect people’s human rights and act within the bounds of the law. That’s the case now, and that won’t change.

Second, our cities are full of “wartime housing,” modest homes built when governments played a major, hands-on role in housing. Our governments also built social housing and supportive housing systems in the post-war era. Today, these don’t operate as well as they should because we haven’t maintained or invested in them.

Our current housing crisis is a direct result of governments abdicating their responsibilities in housing.

Myth: This is going to cost a fortune!

This one is not entirely untrue. We do need to spend public money to make the human right to housing a reality.

But public money is meant to be spent on the public good. As the saying goes, an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure. The human and economic costs of inadequate housing and homelessness are far higher than the cost of creating housing systems that work for people.

And the majority of homes will remain in the private market, where they are now. Public expenses will be aimed at the people who the market currently ignores, and governments can use a variety of public sources to cover them.

The trick is to invest in the solutions that will have the greatest impact for the people who are most in need.

Myth: This puts the UN and the courts in charge, instead of our democratically elected leaders.

It was our elected leaders who committed to the human right to housing by signing onto international agreements and making federal law that affirms it.

The human right to housing does not override the decisions or actions of elected officials. It does, however, act as a guide for public decision-making. It should motivate our elected leaders and public servants to better meet people’s needs.

Elected leaders make laws, and they are responsible for making policies that operationalize them. This is the same for laws and policies that advance the human right to housing.

Myth: The courts will be clogged up with lawsuits from people who don’t like where they live.

People must have a way to seek justice when their rights have been violated. Courts and tribunals are necessary, fundamental structures for this reason. But they are a last resort. People don’t file claims or mount expensive, exhausting legal challenges on a whim.

If we want to prevent lawsuits and claims, we should prevent human rights violations in the first place.

Myth: We can fix the housing crisis without the human right to housing.

What we are doing now is not working. We can’t continue on this path of treating housing as only a commodity, and leaving people who can’t afford it out in the literal cold.

Housing is, first and foremost, a human right. This makes it clear that our first priority must be people. Our public decisions should focus on making people’s lives better, not on increasing profits or punishing people who are poor.

At the end of the day, we need to start taking this housing crisis more seriously. We cannot continue to let people suffer in inadequate, sub-standard, or insecure homes or, even worse, with no home at all.

We cannot continue to let these myths and misconceptions hold us back. They are no excuse for inaction. The human right to housing gives us a principled foundation and a practical guide to solving this problem. Let’s use it.