Research & Resources

Human Rights-Based, Gender-Sensitive National Standards for Emergency Shelters Across Canada

These Shelter Standards are grounded in a comprehensive framework that merges international human rights principles with a Gender-Based Analysis Plus (GBA+) approach. By drawing from international treaties, human rights frameworks, and best practices, the standards aim to set a high bar for emergency shelter operations while remaining sensitive to the unique needs of diverse gender identities and expressions. The Standards are co-created by the Canadian Centre for Housing Rights, National Right to Housing Network, and the Women’s National Housing and Homelessness Network, including guidance from a National Advisory Committee.

Read the StandardsRead the Complementary Reports & Toolkits

(En Francais)


An Intersectional Feminist Housing Agenda for Canada

The WNHHN, National Indigenous Housing Network, the Pan-Canadian Voice for Women’s Housing, and an intersectional, nation-wide coalition of feminist advocates released An Intersectional Feminist Housing Agenda for Canada: A Briefing Guide for Canada’s Housing Minister, which includes 15 Calls to Action for the federal  government to answer. The calls range from targeted investments in housing, scaling solutions to the level of need, to taking meaningful steps that will realize the right to housing for this often under-served and marginalized population of women, gender-diverse, children, and 2SLGBTQQIA people.

Read the Agenda

 


Gendered Evictions in Financialized Housing Markets Across Canada: The Case for Human Rights Intervention and Oversight

Our report and submission to the National Housing Council, produced in collaboration with the National Right to Housing Network, aims to feed into Canada’s first-ever review panel (which reviews systemic violations of the right to adequate housing) and explores the intersection of financialization and evictions in the lives of women and gender-diverse people. We urge the review panel to consider the gendered intersection of these issues across Canada, and to provide an assessment of, and suggested remedy for, the role that the financialization of housing plays in the denial of substantive equality for marginalized women and gender-diverse people. Our report draws on data from our primary research, an extensive literature review, case law review, and testimony shared by our lived expert peers and colleagues.

Read the Submission

 


 

Housing Need & Homelessness Amongst Gender-Diverse People in Canada—A Preliminary Portrait

These companion reports highlight homelessness and housing need amongst gender-diverse people in Canada, highlighting pervasive human rights violations. Commissioned by the Office of the Federal Housing Advocate, these reports are a starting point for how we can better realize the right to housing for gender-diverse people across the country.

Read the Research Brief  Read the Literature Review & Practice Scan


Pan-Canadian Women’s Housing & Homelessness Survey

This survey is the largest national gender-specific survey on housing need and homelessness in Canada to date. Completed by 500 women and gender diverse people, this survey provides insight into the unique causes, conditions, and consequences of housing precarity and homelessness for women, girls and gender diverse people. The report highlights 10 key challenges that illustrate why and how homelessness is gendered, offering 21 recommendations for transformative change.

Read the Report

( En Francais )


A Rights-Based, GBA+ Analysis of the National Housing Strategy

The National Housing Strategy Act (NHSA) establishes housing as a human right in domestic legislation, and requires that the National Housing Strategy (NHS) adopt a rights-based approach. However, there are significant gaps between NHS programs and the NHSA when it comes to protecting the rights of women and gender diverse people. This report employs a rights-based, GBA+ analysis to explore how the NHS can progressively realize the right to housing for women, girls, and gender diverse people in Canada.

Read the Report

( En Francais )


Literature Review: The State of Women’s Housing Need & Homelessness in Canada

Homelessness amongst women, girls and gender diverse peoples is a crisis in Canada – hiding in plain sight. This literature review explores evidence on the unique causes, consequences, and experiences of homelessness and housing precarity for this group. It is the most comprehensive literature review on this topic in Canada.

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Key Findings | Executive Summary ( En Francais )


Implementation of the Right to Housing for Women, Girls, and Gender Diverse People in Canada

The ratification of the National Housing Strategy Act (NHSA) provides a historic opportunity to progressively realize of the right to housing for women, girls, and gender diverse people in Canada. This report draws together findings from the WNHHN’s literature review, pan-Canadian survey, and GBA+ federal policy analysis to outline how the federal government can advance the human right to housing for this group.

Read the Report

( En Francais )


Resources

A place of My Own

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Women’s Literature Review

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Women Deliver – COVID-19 Newsletter

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Best Practice Guideline for Ending Women’s and Girl’s Homelessness

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Red Women Rising

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Reconsidering Gender in Homelessness (Bretherton, 2017)

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Reclaiming Power and Place

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Best Practice Guideline for Ending Women’s and Girl’s Homelessness

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Women in Canada: A Gender-based Statistical Report

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A Little Kindness Would Go a Long Way

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Coming Together: Homeless Women, Housing and Social Support

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Voices: Women, Poverty and Homelessness in Canada

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A Framework for Ending Women’s and Girls’ Homelessness

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Better Off in a Shelter?

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Housing, Homelessness, and Violence Against Women

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Women and Homelessness (Bapitista, 2010)

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Connecting the Circle

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Scaling Up and Caring Report

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Getting Home Project

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Developing Gender-Based, Low Barrier Housing to Address Complex Homelessness

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Pan Canadian Voice for Women Update on Calls Report

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Housing Assessment Resource Tools

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Additional Resources

The Homeless Hub, the largest online library of resources and research on homelessness, provides further resources on women’s homelessness. Click below to explore their resources.

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