Page - 355 - in VULNERABLE - The Law, Policy and Ethics of COVID-19

CHAPTER D-4 The Front Line Defence: Housing and Human Rights in the Time of COVID-19 Leilani Farha* and Kaitlin Schwan** Abstract COVID-19 has laid bare the failure of Canadian governments to effectively implement the right to housing. In this chapter, we argue the pandemic presents Canada with the opportunity to correct the structural weaknesses of our housing system to ensure housing for all and reposition housing as a social good rather than a commodity. We explore how housing status has been determinative of outcomes for three vulnerable populations during the pandemic—people expe- riencing homelessness, survivors of intimate partner violence, and low-income renters. Their experiences demonstrate the urgent need for a rights-based approach to housing, highlighting the importance of breathing life into the National  Housing  Strategy and the National Housing  Strategy  Act. We argue that Canadian governments must act before this opportunity passes them by; otherwise they will find that though the pandemic itself is over, housing inequality has only worsened. * Former United Nations Special Rapporteur on the Right to Housing and Global Director of The Shift. ** Director of Research at The Shift.