The International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights states that every person has the right to an adequate standard of living, including adequate housing. Canada is a signatory to the Covenant yet we have a severe housing shortage. In 1998, the United Nations Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights recommended that the Federal government implement a national strategy for dealing with what it called our “national crisis” of homelessness. Canada has failed to address any of the recommendations made by the Committee over 6 years ago.

	Over 200,000 Canadians were homeless in 2003. More than 1.7 million Canadians were in need of safe adequate housing in 2003. Canada is the only industrialized country without a national housing strategy.

To: Right Honourable Joe Fontana,
Minister of Labour and Housing

I find it unacceptable that Canada is not living up to its international obligations to ensure adequate housing for everyone in the country.

I find it unacceptable that Canada does not have a national housing strategy as recommended by the UN Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights over 6 years ago.

I support the National Anti-Poverty Organization’s call for the for the Federal government to:

• implement a national housing strategy,
• increase spending on social housing to a minimum of $2.5 billion annually,
• build a minimum of 30,000 social housing units per year.