One Step Further: An Overview of Canada’s Past and Present Responses to Homelessness and the Argument for Alternative Conceptions of Property Ownership

Authors

• Logan BillardFollow

Keywords

Homelessness, housing rights, human rights-based approach, National Housing Strategy Act (NHSA), Housing First Model, housing financialization, affordable housing, right to housing, social housing, Indigenous homelessness, poverty, housing policy, encampments, criminalization of homelessness, community-based housing models

Abstract

Homelessness in Canada continues to worsen year after year. Despite the shift from punitive, neoliberal policies to a human rights-based model, homelessness remains a national crisis. Federal initiatives like the National Housing Strategy Act and the Housing First Model aim to provide stable housing, but their impact remains limited. This paper explores the structural factors contributing to homelessness, including poverty, housing financialization, and systemic discrimination, particularly against Indigenous communities. It also highlights the limitations of the current human rights-based approach, focussing on the lack of enforceability and failure to create substantial, sustainable change due to systemic reliance on the financialization of the housing market. Municipal and provincial responses frequently contradict federal efforts, as encampment clearings, fines, and other punitive measures continue to criminalize homelessness. Additionally, courts have been reluctant to recognize housing rights and impose positive obligations on governments. Given these shortcomings, this paper advocates for alternative housing models that challenge the centrality of private property. These approaches emphasize community-driven solutions, affordability, and long-term stability. The paper argues that without a fundamental shift away from viewing housing as a commodity and towards treating housing as a collective resource, Canada’s homelessness crisis will persist despite legal and policy reforms.

Creative Commons License

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Recommended Citation

Logan Billard, "One Step Further: An Overview of Canada’s Past and Present Responses to Homelessness and the Argument for Alternative Conceptions of Property Ownership" (2026) 35:1 Dal J Leg Stud 35.