Human Rights and Housing Fights:
​Municipal Encampment Responses

Page built using content written and provided by Dr. Laura Pin
Presented on September 25, 2025 in Saint John, NB at Kent theatre
Sponsored by the Housing Mobilization and Engagement Research Lab, the Human Development Council, and Fresh Start Services

Acknowledgements

Thank you to the Social Science and Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRC) for funding this research.

Thank you to the Realizing the Right project advisory committee: Regan Sunshine Brussé, Shabeeh Ahmad, Jammy Loch, Mauleek Bhatt, Sidney Macdonald, David Alton, and Erin Dej for your ongoing and invaluable contributions.
Three main questions:
  • Why are there encampments in municipalities across Canada?
  • Why are encampments a human rights issue?
  • What should we do now?​

Why are there encampments?

This is the Canadian definition of homelessness created by a team at the leading research organization homelessness in 2013. 
Homelessness describes the situation of an individual, family or community without stable, safe, permanent, appropriate housing…It is the result of systemic or societal barriers, a lack of affordable and appropriate housing, the individual/household’s financial, mental, cognitive, behavioural or physical challenges, and/or racism and discrimination. Most people do not choose to be homeless and the experience is generally negative, unpleasant, unhealthy, unsafe, stressful and distressing 
​- Canadian Observatory on Homelessness, 2013

Public discourse presents people experiencing homelessness as somehow desiring or choosing this experience, but as this definition states, most people do not choose to be homeless. 
​
Jesse Thistle who is a Cree and Métis scholar at York University with lived experience of homelessness has also done some excellent work talking about how for Indigenous,  homelessness includes a dimension of cultural dislocation and disruption of relationships to land, water, place, family, kin, each other, animals, cultures, languages and identities.

​What is an encampment?

Encampments are any area where individual or groups live in homelessness in tents or other temporary structures
​
Encampments are not new, however, they have increased in prevalence in recent years, and this is the entirely predictable result of decades of under investment in social housing, as well as the failures of multiple support systems. This includes failures of the housing system, including a failure to adequately fund deeply affordable social housing, failures of the income support system, including inadequate social assistance, and failures of the health care system, including inadequate access to primary care and mental health care. 

At an individual level, we often talk about people being pushed into encampments, and also pulled towards them. 
​
In terms of push factors, there is a shortage of housing options, especially for people with low and fixed incomes who cannot afford private market rents. Social assistance rates are not high enough for many people to access market rentals. Subsidized social housing has long waitlists, and there are not enough supportive housing spaces for people who need additional living supports.

There are also too few emergency shelter spaces to meet demand, and those spaces that do exist are not accessible for individuals experiencing homelessness. People with mental health conditions or past experiences of trauma may be unable to tolerate the typical emergency shelter experience of sleeping in a room with many strangers. Shelters may not be physically accessible. They are unable to accommodate romantic couples and pets. Moreover, someone going into a shelter needs to leave their belongings (survival gear) behind with no guarantee as to how long they will be able to stay. Frequently people entering shelters find themselves back on the streets in couple days, since emergency shelters, while important, do not address the fundamental need for housing. 
​
​For all these reasons, emergency shelters are not always an option for people experiencing homelessness. 
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#HumanRights  #Unsheltered  #ExtremeHeat

"What this says of our own lacking
​humanity really frightens me...
We should probably talk about this."
City of Cambridge initiating Encampment Evictions *During Extreme Heat Wave*

Why are encampments a
​human rights issue? 

The Right to Housing (RtH) means recognizing that all people have “the right to live somewhere in security, peace and dignity”. Canada is signatory to a number of international human rights documents that include the right to housing including the 1948 United Nations Declaration of Human Rights (article 25), and the 1976 International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (article 11). 
​
In addition, the RtH has a strong basis here in Canada. Legislatively, the National Housing Strategy Act (2019) recognizes “the right to adequate housing is a fundamental human right” in Canada. Moreover, this legislation commits Canada to the progressive realization of this right. This involves prioritizing those in greatest need, using the maximum available resources, and implementing legislative and policy measures to eliminate homelessness and ensure access to suitable, affordable housing, even though it may not happen immediately. 

Moreover, even though the Charter of Rights and Freedoms (1982) does not include a right to housing, court cases in Ontario, British Columbia and Quebec have affirmed a right to shelter in public spaces, with some conditions attached – and that depriving people of this right is a Section 7 violation of the right to life because depriving someone of a place to shelter can cause harm and death. 

Both international and domestic agreements concerning the right to housing use the term adequate housing. To meet the RtH, shelter needs to fulfill seven conditions: affordability, security of tenure, habitability, location, access to basic amenities, and cultural appropriateness. 
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#Cambridge  #humanrights  #community

"Upholding human rights is not only a legal and ethical obligation—it is also in the best interest of our community."
A Human Rights Approach for the City of Cambridge

What should we do now?

Encampments are a complicated issue, with no immediate resolution. However, there are steps that can be taken at all levels of government to ensure a more just response. 

Step 1 is to acknowledge reality. There is not enough adequate housing for people experiencing homelessness. There are not enough emergency shelter spaces, and those spaces that do exist are often not accessible. Therefore, while we should work towards creating more permanent housing options, encampments will continue to exist in the foreseeable future. 

Step 2 is to adopt a human rights approach to encampments. This requires work in five areas, and many of the links at the end of this presentation provide resources on how to do this work. The five thematic areas are:

  1. Decenter policing and law enforcement in encampment responses; 
  2. Address conditions in encampments and meet basic needs; 
  3. Ensure equitable and accessible provision of services; 
  4. Ensure meaningful participation of encampment residents in decision-making;
  5. Recognize the distinct rights of Indigenous Peoples. ​​
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​Step 3 is to demand meaningful change and action, and all levels of government have a role to play here. Municipalities can provide safe areas for people to camp, something that cities in southern Ontario have done in the past, for example, Hamilton, London and Guelph. Municipal and provincial governments need to create low-barrier forms of emergency shelter and permanent housing to increase access and options for individuals staying in encampments. Finally, Provincial and federal governments have the funding and resources to address the root causes of encampments: the failures of the housing, health and income support systems. Until we take these actions, we will fall short on a rights-based approach to encampments. 

#regionofwaterloo  #humanrights  #unsheltered

"We can't keep shifting the responsibility for issues that can have life or death consequences."
As Proposed to Regional Council November 17th, 2021

Resources:

Charter Rights: View All (Charterpedia) 
​
  • Section 7: Life, liberty and security of the person
    "Everyone has the right to life, liberty and security of the person and the right not to be deprived thereof except in accordance with the principles of fundamental justice."    ​
  • Section 12 : Cruel and unusual treatment or punishment
    "Everyone has the right not to be subjected to any cruel and unusual treatment or punishment."    ​
  • Section 15 : Equality Rights
    "Every individual is equal before and under the law and has the right to the equal protection and equal benefit of the law without discrimination and, in particular, without discrimination based on race, national or ethnic origin, colour, religion, sex, age or mental or physical disability."

Citations: