It's a right.

Shelter is a basic human right. It's laid out in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Article 25 of this United Nations document says that: "Everyone has the right to a standard of living adequate for the health and well-being of himself and his family, including food, clothing, housing ..."

Article 11 of the International Covenant on Economic, Social, and Cultural Rights also guarantees that everyone has a right to an adequate standard of living, including adequate food, clothing, and housing. Canada, of course, has signed and adopted both these human rights documents. They are binding on the government of Canada. On a regular basis, Ottawa has to report to the United Nations about how well it's doing in meeting its commitment. In 1998, the UN committee that monitors this issue wasn't very impressed.

"The Committee is gravely concerned," its members wrote, "that such a wealthy country as Canada has allowed the problem of homelessness and inadequate housing to grow to such proportions that the mayors of Canada's largest cities have now declared homelessness a national disaster."

The United Nations cannot enforce compliance with its Conventions. Once a nation commits to the ideals of the Convention it is on its honour to follow them. Canada has been quick to make promises on the international scene, but less speedy within its own borders.

The Charter of Rights and Freedoms guarantees a lot of things, but the right to adequate housing does not appear to be one of them. The nearest the Charter comes is Section 7, which guarantees security of the person. However, nobody has yet tested that in a court of law to establish if "security of the person" means having a legal right to adequate housing.

There have been several attempts to get Private Members' Bills through Parliament seeking to have the right to housing guaranteed under Canadian law. So far, none of these bills have been passed. The most recent attempt was Bill C-376, which was tabled by former Liberal MP Mac Harb. He wanted to have a new clause added to the Canadian Bill of Rights to guarantee "the right of the individual to proper housing, at a reasonable cost, and free of unreasonable barriers."

The Bill died after First Reading in February 2003.