A report released today warns that women, Two Spirit, Trans, and gender-diverse people are at risk of being left behind in Canada's ambitious housing plans, unless the government acts now to address inequities in Canada's housing system.
In its final report and recommendations to the Minister of Housing and Infrastructure, the Neha review panel concludes that Canada is not fulfilling all the conditions to realize the right to housing in Canada in an inclusive, gender-responsive, and human rights-based manner.
Homelessness continues to devastate society's most marginalized communities. Despite billions spent annually, the housing system still fails to deliver dignity or stability-underscoring that only permanent, human-rights-based solutions can truly end this crisis.
The release of Neha's reports aligns with National Right to Housing Day and the 16 Days of Activism Against Gender-Based Violence, culminating on International Human Rights Day. This timing underscores the essential role of housing in ending gender-based violence, advancing gender and racial equity, and upholding the human rights of Indigenous peoples and persons with disabilities.
Review panels are a human rights-based mechanism established by Canada's right to housing legislation, the National Housing Strategy Act. The Neha review panel members Sylvia Maracle, Marie Pascaline Menono, and Pamela Glode-Desrochers, were appointed to examine the right to safe, adequate and affordable housing for women, Two Spirit, and gender-diverse people, and the government's duty to uphold this right.
The report comes as Canada commits $13 billion in the recent federal budget to Build Canada Homes, and $2.8B to urban, rural and Northern Indigenous housing, underscoring the need to ensure these historic investments deliver equitable, gender-responsive outcomes and help accelerate the realization of human rights, so no one is left behind.
The panel's recommendations provide a blueprint for systemic change, urging the Minister to transform Canada's colonial housing system, support community-led housing, address gendered and racialized income inequities, and ensure access to safe and inclusive shelters for people experiencing homelessness and those fleeing violence. The review panel found that the lack of safe, adequate, and affordable housing can lead to homelessness, incarceration, institutionalization, and the apprehension of children into foster care - and in the end, these institutional responses cost more than providing housing and services.
Throughout the Neha hearings, participants described the harms caused by discriminatory systems that exclude Two-Spirit, Trans, gender-diverse, and Indigenous people. They called for community-led solutions, sustained funding, wraparound supports, and policies that uphold dignity, autonomy, and safety.
The Minister is required by legislation to respond to this report within 120 days and to table a response in Parliament within 30 days of sending it to the review panel.
About the review panels
Review panels are a unique, made-in-Canada human rights-based mechanism established by the National Housing Strategy Act (NHS Act) to support the progressive realization of the right to adequate housing in Canada. At the request of the Federal Housing Advocate, the National Housing Council (NHC) appoints three of its members to an independent review panel to examine a systemic housing issue that falls within the jurisdiction of Parliament. Review panels are required to hold hearings that provide the public, particularly members of communities affected by the issue and groups with expertise in human rights and housing, with an opportunity to participate.
The Neha review panel is examining the right to safe, adequate and affordable housing for women, Two Spirit, Trans, and gender-diverse people, and the government's duty to uphold this right. It is made up of three members of the NHC: Chair Sylvia Maracle, and members Pam Glode-Desrochers and Marie Pascaline-Menono. The work performed by review panels is independent from the work of the NHC.
