CUPE National President Mark Hancock has urged the Liberal government to make sure the government’s National Housing Strategy is on track to secure adequate housing for all people living in Canada.
Hancock wrote to Jean-Yves Duclos, Minister of Families, Children and Social Development, to urge the government to follow up the National Housing Strategy it launched in November of 2017. He called on the government to implement a plan to provide more access to housing for individuals who need it.
“We all benefit from an effective National Housing Strategy that is in line with Canada’s international obligations,” Hancock wrote. “Every person living in Canada deserves affordable, livable, accessible and culturally appropriate housing.”
Hancock urged the federal government to make sure the National Housing Strategy legislation:
- Implements the right to housing as a right unto itself in accordance with international human rights law
- Provides access to justice for individuals when the right to housing is denied
- Ensures the Housing Advocate is well resourced and independent
- Acknowledges the rights of Indigenous Peoples to self-govern their housing programs
- Recognizes Canada’s obligation to end homelessness by 2030
- Ensures infrastructure funding is dispersed smoothly and on time, and
- Brings private sector activity in line with Canada’s obligation to fulfil the right to housing