Trudeau says housing is a human right — what does that mean exactly?

UN says such a recognition does not mean the government has to build all of the nation’s housing stock

By John Paul Tasker, CBC News

As part of its ambitious national housing strategy, the Liberal government is vowing to enshrine the right to adequate housing as a fundamental human right in Canadian law, a symbolic move that has practical considerations.

For years there has been an international push to do just that, and Canada is already a signatory to the UN-backed International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, which recognizes housing as a right.

“Housing rights are human rights and everyone deserves a safe and affordable place to call home… and one person on the streets in Canada is too many,” Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said Wednesday in announcing the long-awaited, roughly $40-billion plan to help fund the construction of more social housing, repair old units and deliver up to $2,500 a year in rent support for vulnerable families.

Don Iveson, Edmonton’s mayor, and the current chair of the Big City Mayor’s caucus, championed the announcement Wednesday, in part because of its commitment to protect housing as a human right.

‘A fundamental need’

“Access to adequate housing is not just something that our citizens simply want or desire, but it is a fundamental need — a human right, even — and I believe that this announcement is the start of treating it as such.”

But just because housing could soon become a “right” — albeit not one embedded in the Charter of Rights and Freedoms — the government is not expected to supply a house to every man, woman and child within its borders.

full story at http://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/trudeau-housing-rights-human-rights-1.4414854