The SPNO Calls on All Provincial Parties to Pass Bill 252, Housing is a Human Right Act, 2021

On February 22, MPP Faisal Hassan and MPP Sara Singh introduced Bill 252, Housing is a Human Right Act, 2021, the first provincial Bill of its kind to recognize housing as a human right. If passed, the Bill would establish the Housing Inequities and Disparity Working Group to study and evaluate Ontario’s housing crisis through an equity lens. The Working Group would evaluate the effectiveness of provincial policy in realizing housing as a human right and inform future policy to meet this important commitment. The Bill, if passed, would also establish an independent Housing Commissioner as an essential role for advancing the human right to housing at the provincial level.

The Bill was inspired by a research study conducted by one of our member organizations. In November 2020, Social Planning Toronto and its research partners, Naomi Lightman at the University of Calgary and Luann Good Gingrich at York University, released “Spaces and Places of Exclusion: Mapping Rental Housing Disparities for Toronto’s Racialized and Immigrant Communities”. This research and its recommendations substantially informed the current Bill.

The Social Planning Network of Ontario (SPNO) joined Mr. Hassan and Ms. Singh in the launch of this Bill at a press conference on February 22. The SPNO is proud to support this important piece of legislation. Social planning councils across Ontario recognize housing as a matter of human rights, public health, and racial justice. The Bill proposes essential mechanisms to advancing the human right to housing in Ontario. A human rights approach to achieving housing for all is long overdue in Ontario. We call on all provincial parties to support Bill 252.

Watch the press conference here

Read the bill here