Canada’s housing advocate has a roadmap to end homelessness. What is it?

Federal housing advocate Marie-Josée Houle on Tuesday called for an end to forced evictions of encampments and urged 'alternatives.'

The Office of the Federal Housing Advocate (OFHA) is calling on all three levels of government to create a strategy to end chronic homelessness in Canada.

Marie-Josée Houle on Tuesday called for an end to forced evictions of encampments and urged “alternatives that are designed following meaningful engagement with encampment residents.”

The OFHA report, released on Tuesday, calls on the federal government to create a National Encampments Response Plan that recognizes Canada’s human rights obligations and commits resources to ending chronic homelessness.

On Thursday, Houle met with Housing Minister Sean Fraser and Indigenous Services Minister Patty Hajdu to brief them about the report. She recommended that the federal government establish a National Encampments Response Plan by Aug. 31 this year.

The report recommends tying the granting of any federal housing dollars to efforts to end homelessness.

“Infrastructure Canada and the Canadian Mortgage and Housing Corporation must include conditions in funding agreements with provinces, territories, and municipalities that ensure that all use of federal housing-related funds respect and fulfill Canada’s international and domestic human rights obligations,” the report said.

At the provincial and territorial level, the OFHA recommended key legislative changes, such as legislation recognizing the human right to adequate housing as defined in international law.

It also called on provinces and territories to upgrade their human rights codes “to ensure explicit prohibition of discrimination based on social condition such as income levels, being unemployed or experiencing homelessness.”