Advocates call for action as national human rights panel releases landmark reports on gendered housing crisis
120-day countdown kicks off for Canada’s Housing Minister to respond with a plan to address the housing crisis for women and gender-diverse people
VANCOUVER/OTTAWA (Nov. 25): As new human-rights reports on gendered homelessness are delivered to federal Housing Minister Gregor Robertson on how Canada is not meeting its obligations on the right to housing for women, Two-Spirit, trans and gender-diverse people, lived experts and advocates from BC and across Canada are calling on him to meaningfully commit to ending the housing and homelessness crisis facing this population.
The National Housing Council’s Neha Review Panel has spent the last year collecting evidence and testimony from across the country, reviewing Canada’s duty to uphold the right to housing for women and Two-Spirit, trans, and gender-diverse people. This has culminated in their delivery of summary and recommendations reports to Minister Robertson on Monday, November 24. Through the right to housing legislation, the Minister must respond within 120 days, publicly, in the House and Senate.
“Today we are calling on Minister Robertson and the federal government to commit to ending the gendered housing crisis,” says Marie McGregor Pitawanakwat, Chair, National Indigenous Women’s Housing Network. “The Human Rights Claims we filed in 2022 have led us to a moment where the federal government has the opportunity to fulfil its
right to housing obligation to us.”
Over the last year, advocates, grassroots groups, lived experts, and national organizations have been mobilizing by submitting testimony and participating in oral dialogues with the Neha Review Panel. The Panel heard from over 500 individuals and groups through written submissions, in-person gatherings in community, in prisons, in gathering spaces—complemented by public virtual oral dialogues. This effort has created a public record and the latest snapshot of how housing rights violations are impacting women and Two-Spirit, trans, and gender-diverse people in Canada right now.
One of the Neha Review Panel reports is a summary of what the appointed 3-member panel heard through their evidence and testimony gathering. Based on the testimony gathered, the second report is a set of recommendations to address the crisis through a human rights framework. Read all the reports here.
“This is a historic day in the fight to end homelessness,” says Arlene Hache, Co-Chair, Women’s National Housing & Homelessness Network. “For too long, the response to homelessness has been gender neutral—and the impact has been anything but. Budget 2025 did not address the gendered housing crisis with meaningful commitments, and now the Minister is being given a workable blueprint on how to correct that.”
November 25 is a meaningful day for this call to action—the beginning of the International 16 Days of Activism Against Gender-Based Violence and just following National Housing Week.
For more information visit, www.womenshomelessness.ca and Read Neha’s reports here.
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BACKGROUND:
- The National Housing Strategy Act legislated the right to housing in 2019.
- The legislation requires the federal Minister of Housing & Infrastructure to publicly respond to National Housing Council review panel reports within 120 days of receiving them—publicly, in the House and Senate.
- The expectation is meant to be a meaningful response, committing to and actioning the measures put forward by the review panel.
- In 2022, the National Indigenous Women’s Housing Network and Women’s National Housing & Homelessness Network filed two human rights claims with the Federal Housing Advocate on the Government of Canada’s violations of the right to housing experienced by marginalized women and gender-diverse people across the country.
- Then, the Federal Housing Advocate declared the issue a national human rights crisis, and in May 2023 referred it for review to the National Housing Council.
- Then, in September 2024, the National Housing Council appointed a three-member review panel, which became the Neha Review Panel on Canada’s duty to uphold the right to housing for women and gender-diverse people.
QUOTES:
All quotes are from lived experts, academics, advocates, and organizations who participated in the Neha Review Panel by submitting testimony or participating in oral dialogues.
Michèle Biss, Executive Director, National Right to Housing Network: “Canada’s recognition of housing as a human right established a clear legal standard and real obligations. We call on Housing Minister Gregor Robertson to engage seriously with Neha’s recommendations and uphold Canada’s human rights commitments. The testimony and solutions put forward by women and gender-diverse people is not optional input; it is lived expertise that must have real impact on federal housing policy. The review panel process—that came out of the government’s very own National Housing Strategy Act—exists to ensure the voices of rights holders are finally taken seriously.”
Rowan Burdge, Provincial Director of the BC Poverty Reduction Coalition: “The Neha Review Panel is releasing its findings today, and makes clear that government action on housing for women and gender-diverse communities has been sorely neglected. We need bold policy, dedicated funding, and a commitment to building housing that reflects the realities of the people most at risk. We must enact housing as a progressive right, one that governments have a responsibility to uphold. We are calling on all levels of government to turn this principle into action and build the safe, accessible, permanent housing that every person deserves.”
Sherry Caldwell, Co-Founder, Childhood Disability Network Canada: “Caregivers are compelled to make impossible decisions daily—between paying rent, purchasing medical supplies, or reducing their work hours to ensure the safety of their loved ones. These choices are not personal failures but rather policy shortcomings. Without substantial federal investment in income support and accessible housing, families will continue to be marginalized. Caregivers require more than mere gratitude; they demand action.”
Kate Chung, Co-founder, Accessible Housing Network: “A large proportion of women and gender-diverse people who are homeless have disabilities. All shelters and all new housing must be required to be Universal Design so they can be accessed by anyone of any age or ability.”
Emilie Coyle, Co-Executive Director of the Canadian Association of Elizabeth Fry Societies (CAEFS): “CAEFS was encouraged to see the Neha Review Panel include the voices and expertise of criminalized women and gender-diverse people, including those living in prisons and under criminalization in the community. When people are punished instead of supported, criminalization does not solve homelessness, poverty, or violence – it deepens all of these issues and makes it even harder for them to secure safe, adequate housing and exercise their human rights.”
Anuradha Dugal, Executive Director, Women’s Shelters Canada:“Women’s Shelters Canada was pleased to be part of this thorough and inclusive review process. We were able to provide the specific perspective of shelters for women and children fleeing violence and the particular barriers they face. We look forward to seeing the Minister’s and the federal government’s response to this report. We are hopeful that this work will inform Canada’s housing policy, as we advocate for the creation of more housing spaces specifically for women fleeing violence through Build Canada Homes.”
Brad Evoy, Co-Chair, Accessible Housing Network: “The Neha Review Panel’s work has been a landmark opportunity to advance the clear and definitive right to housing for women and gender-diverse people. These recommendations provide Minister Robertson and agencies like Build Canada Homes the opportunity to make generational policy and investments across these territories. As Neha makes clear, we need to act now to create affordable, accessible, and safe housing for disabled women and gender-diverse people. We cannot delay—the path forward is here. Only through meaningful action can we honour the voices of all the women and gender-diverse people who made this review possible.”
Amy FitzGerald, Executive Director, BC Society of Transition Houses: “On November 25, the International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women, the BC Society of Transition Houses is honoured to have contributed to the Neha Review Panel Report launching today. On this historic day, we look forward to the National Housing Strategy Act’s fundamental right to housing becoming a resourced reality for women and their children fleeing violence. The Panel’s report along with the Build CA Homes investments provides a pathway forward for the Minister of Housing and Infrastructure for safe affordable forever homes across Canada for those disproportionally at risk of homelessness.”
John Gordon, CEO – National Indigenous Collaborative Housing Inc. (NICHI): “On behalf of NICHI, we welcome and very much appreciate the report efforts by the Neha review panel to make recommendations to the National Housing Council and await a response from the Minister of Housing and Infrastructure. NICHI is ready to play a part in ending homelessness for indigenous women and gender diverse peoples in urban, rural and northern communities. NICHI will continue working with Indigenous organizations, distinctions-based partners, and governments to ensure every investment meets the urgent needs identified by communities themselves.”
Marie-Josée Houle, Federal Housing Advocate: “This is a celebratory day, and I applaud everyone who contributed their expertise to the Neha panel. The reports include a wealth of information that can support the renewal of the National Housing Strategy so it truly prioritizes and invests in better outcomes for women and gender diverse people. These recommendations must be met with equal commitment, sustained resources, and the will from government to act.”
Charlotte Hunter, Lawyer, Two-Spirit Advocate: “The deeply personal stories in the Neha Review Panel Submission are a searing indictment of how systemic failures transform housing precarity into a human rights crisis. For multiply-marginalized individuals—especially Indigenous, Two-Spirit, neurodivergent, and transgender women in places like Northern Ontario—the current system is not just inadequate, it is a labyrinth of rigid categorization and harmful exclusion. We respectfully demand that Minister Robertson recognize these reports as a definitive blueprint for federal action. The government must immediately prioritize intersectional, culturally competent, and gender-affirming housing solutions that honor our human right to safety, dignity, and a permanent home.”
DJ Larkin, Executive Director, Canadian Drug Policy Coalition: “By knitting together meaningful, voluntary, community-based supports, we can build housing systems that work for women and Two-Spirit, trans, and gender-diverse people. We are heartened to see the Neha Review Panel’s reports emphasize not only the importance of harm reduction, safe consumption, and substance use treatment, but also the necessity that those supports be voluntary. We echo these recommendations and findings, and applaud the recognition that we could reduce the reliance on costly institutional systems–including involuntary institutionalization or forced treatment–and their associated rights violations and harm, through the proper provision of safe, adequate and affordable housing and support. Now, we look to the federal government to meet this moment with the resources and commitment needed to drive change.”
Jayne Malenfant, Assistant Professor, McGill University: “The Neha review marks an integral first step in understanding and addressing the housing rights of women and gender-diverse people. It must not be where this work stops. For Two-Spirit, trans, non-binary and other gender-diverse people, the need is dire and there is an abysmal lack of resources and supports for them to find adequate and safe homes. I hope that this report prompts action, and leaders in housing continue to foreground the direct experiences of communities that are most impacted by unjust housing systems and gender-based discrimination in our country.”
Alex Nelson, Postdoctoral Fellow, Trent University: “When we call Neha a historic review, we mean it in every sense. This review panel was a space of solidarity and community mobilization for women and gender-diverse people, where our pasts and lived truths became our collective testimony. To honour this testimony, we demand that the recommendations from Neha be enacted, guiding us to a future where gender no longer impacts our access to housing. The violence, discrimination and injustice faced by Two-Spirit, transgender and gender-diverse people is unacceptable, and the stories shared make these realities impossible to ignore. Neha is making history, but the future is not yet determined. The time, experiences and knowledge shared through the dialogues has to be met with urgent action and deep accountability from leaders across the housing sector.”
Margaret Pfoh, CEO, Aboriginal Housing Management Association (AHMA): “Today is a historic moment. The Neha Review Panel is releasing its findings on Canada’s duty to uphold the right to housing for women and gender-diverse people, and AHMA is launching our Indigenous-led Gender-Based Violence Housing Strategy. Both point to the same truth: women, especially Indigenous women and 2SLGBTQ+ people, are facing a housing and safety crisis that is a clear violation of human rights.”
Leila Sarangi, National Director, Campaign 2000: End Child and Family Poverty: “Young people, particularly those exiting the child welfare system, who are houseless, incarcerated, or who live in deep poverty, are too often forgotten in policy-making and programming. They often do not have the same familial and community-supports as their peers and require strong public supports to meet their basic needs, starting with a safe, stable and adequate place to call home. The Neha Panel rightly centred their voices, experiences and their right to an adequate standard of living in their review. We now call on the Minister to act with urgency to implement the recommendations in the report and progressively realize the right to housing for all children and young people.”
Erin Seeley, CEO, YWCA Metro Vancouver: “Stable housing isn’t just a roof over someone’s head, it’s the foundation for employment, education and overall well-being. The Neha Review Panel’s reports show just how critical it is that we focus on women when we’re talking about addressing the housing crisis across Canada. With rising costs, limited supply and systemic inequities, too many women are at risk of housing insecurity. We need government to play a leadership role and commit to providing more safe, affordable housing opportunities for those who need it most. We look forward to seeing how Minister Robertson and agencies like Build Canada Homes integrate the recommendations into concrete policy action.”