Two years after landmark report, renewed action is needed as homelessness continues to rise

Canada NewsWire

OTTAWA, ON, March 3, 2026 /CNW/ - Two years after the release of her landmark report on homeless encampments, the Federal Housing Advocate continues to urge all levels of government to do more to address the human rights crisis of homeless encampments in Canada.

The number of people experiencing homelessness in Canada continues to rise. Figures show the number of people living unsheltered has more than doubled in recent years – an increase of 107% between 2020-2022 and 2024. In Ontario alone, a report published in January by the Association of Municipalities of Ontario identified 85,000 people experiencing homelessness in the province in 2025. First Nations, Inuit and Métis people continue to be grossly over-represented in these numbers.

Tragedy and loss underscore the human cost behind these statistics. In January, a 38-year-old mother of three from the Wiikwemkoong First Nation died in a tent fire in Sudbury. More than 100 people experiencing homelessness in New Brunswick died in 2025, and 59 deaths were recorded by the city of Toronto in 2025. Even more concerning is that the true scale of this crisis is not known, as national figures on deaths among people experiencing homelessness are not collected.

These are preventable tragedies. This concerning situation reflects a continued lack of affordable housing, inadequate supports for people with complex needs, and the failure to provide life-saving essential services to people living in encampments.

Today, the Federal Housing Advocate renews her call for all governments to embed a human rights-based approach in responses to homelessness and encampments. This obligation is set out in the National Housing Strategy Act and the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples Act.

In particular, there is a need for permanent federal investments and leadership to support this work with the anticipated gap that will be left when the Unsheltered Homelessness and Encampments Initiative ends in March 2026.

The Federal Housing Advocate's renewed calls to action highlight the need to prioritize:

• Long-term federal investments and leadership for human rights-based responses to encampments
• Meaningful consultation with Indigenous Peoples and investing in preventing and responding to Indigenous homelessness
• Meaningful engagement with people living in encampments
• Ending forced encampment evictions and criminalization of homelessness

These renewed calls to action, initially outlined in the Advocate's 2024 report, build on the work and engagements that have taken place since – including what she has heard are critical issues from municipalities, encampments residents, service providers, and Indigenous representative organizations.

Governments at all levels must continue to advance solutions to address the homelessness and encampments crisis, and provide resources to ensure people in encampments are able to live in safety and dignity.

Two years later, the need for urgent and coordinated responses amongst all governments remains as great now as was when this report was published. More must be done by all levels of government to address the systemic factors that continue to fuel homelessness.

Quote

"The human rights crisis facing people living in encampments has worsened. Short-term funding and enforcement-based responses are not solutions.

Governments must act with urgency and coordination, guided by human rights, dignity, and the lived realities of people experiencing homelessness--especially First Nations, Inuit, and Métis peoples."

-- Marie-Josée Houle, Federal Housing Advocate

Quick facts

• The 2024 Everyone Counts Homelessness survey found that homelessness in sheltered locations rose by 71% in the 74 participating communities compared to the previous count (2020-2022). The number of people experiencing unsheltered homelessness increased by 107%.
• In Ontario alone, 85,000 people are experiencing homelessness in the province, based on a report from the Association of Municipalities of Ontario.
• First Nations, Inuit and Métis people continue to be grossly over-represented in these numbers.

Related links

• New report recommends permanent federal investments in human rights-based responses to encampments
• Upholding dignity and human rights: the Federal Housing Advocate's review of homeless encampments
• Guide to Meaningful Engagement and Integrating a Human Rights-based Approach into Encampment Responses - Fact Sheets

Background

The Advocate's 2024 report, Upholding dignity and human rights: The Federal Housing Advocate's review of homeless encampments, documented widespread violations of human rights and Indigenous rights experienced by people living in encampments. The report set out a clear roadmap and recommendations for coordinated federal, provincial, territorial, and municipal actions. The report was the first of its kind, grounded in extensive engagement with encampment residents, local advocates and service providers, Indigenous leaders, and governments.

It called for long-term solutions to address the systemic factors driving the crisis, including:

• federal leadership, including increased financial resources, to engage provincial, territorial, municipal and Indigenous governments in a comprehensive national response to the crisis
• an end to forced evictions of encampments which only increase the harms caused to people living in encampments
• recognition of Indigenous rights and consultation with Indigenous governments to reflect the gross over-representation of First Nations, Inuit and Métis people amongst the population experiencing homelessness
• meaningful engagement with people living in encampments to put in place sustainable solutions that meet their actual needs

Since the release of the recommendations, the Advocate has continued to engage with individuals, groups and governments on this issue. Her office has produced a series of tools to better equip governments to understand and put in place a human rights-based approach to encampments, such as:

• Encampments and Legal Obligations: Evolving Rights and Relationships
• Guide to Meaningful Engagement and Integrating a Human Rights-Based Approach into Encampment Responses

Following the report, the federal government committed $250 million through the Unsheltered Homelessness and Encampments Initiative (UHEI) (2024–2026), which was implemented with matching funds from provinces, territories, and municipalities.

The Advocate welcomed this new program, which provided much needed support in some municipalities to address urgent needs and encouraged them to reflect on new human rights-based approaches. She continued to call for human rights to be front and centre in allocating the program's funding.

In September 2025, the Advocate travelled to several communities across Ontario to visit homeless encampments, meet with people with lived experience and service providers, and engage with municipal and provincial decision-makers. The trip's intention was to assess the impact of the federal funding on the communities she visited. During her meetings with people living in encampments, she heard that people experiencing homelessness continue to be criminalized and evicted from encampments. She also heard that these types of approaches do not work. They increase instability and push people into even more unsafe situations, farther from community and the supports they need. Long-term solutions require adequate housing, meaningful engagement and a commitment to a human rights-based approach.

As a result, the Advocate recommended in a report that the federal investments continue permanently. While the UHEI filled an important gap in the targeted communities, the funding was not sufficient to address the scale of the problem across the country, and the initiative's two-year timeline was very short to facilitate the transformational change that is required.

During her engagements, the Advocate heard from municipal leaders that there is a need for long-term, predictable funding to plan and coordinate housing, healthcare, and other supports. She has continued to call on provinces, territories and municipalities to work together with the federal government to ensure sustainable and coordinated interventions. In particular, people living in encampments and others working on the frontlines want to see much stronger coordination between federal funds and the delivery of provincial and territorial funds for healthcare, income and social welfare supports as well as the operating expenses for housing and service providers. These issues are even more acute when it comes to services for First Nations, Inuit and Métis people.

The UHEI is set to expire in March 2026. The urgency of the homelessness and encampments crisis that prompted the UHEI's creation still exists -- and, in most places, has deepened in big cities, smaller urban centres as well as rural and remote areas. Without sustained funding, municipalities and frontline workers are forced back into crisis-driven responses. Additional coordinated provincial and territorial investments, particularly in healthcare supports, are urgently needed.

Consult the report and news release on the Advocate's trip to Southern Ontario:

• What we heard about federal, provincial, and municipal responses to homeless encampments
• New report recommends permanent federal investments in human rights-based responses to encampments

As we look ahead to what is next, the federal government's creation of the new Build Canada Homes agency has promised to spur the construction of non-market and deeply affordable housing. Within the overall envelope of $12 billion, the government allocated $1 billion for new transitional accommodation and supportive housing for people experiencing or at risk of homelessness. These supports are much needed. At the same time, the National Housing Strategy is set to be renewed once the first iteration ends in 2027-2028. The Advocate continues to urge the government to ensure these initiatives fully integrate the principles of a human rights-based approach and are aligned with the National Housing Strategy Act.

Calls to action

Communities across Canada are responding to an escalating encampments crisis – which is a human rights crisis. Everyone in Canada has the right to dignified, adequate housing.

The following recommendations from the Federal Housing Advocate call on all governments to embed a human rights-based approach in municipal, provincial, and federal responses to homelessness and encampments. This includes applying a gendered lens and integrating trauma-informed approaches.

These renewed calls to action, initially outlined in the Advocate's 2024 report, build on the work and engagements that have taken place since – including what she has heard are critical issues from municipalities, encampments residents, service providers, and Indigenous representative organizations. These key recommendations highlight the need to prioritize long-term human rights-based investments, meaningful consultation, and an end to forced encampment evictions.

1. Provide long-term federal investments and leadership for human rights-based responses to encampments
   1. New action: Following the end of UHEI in March 2026, municipalities, Indigenous organizations and service providers will continue to need sustainable sources of funding to effectively respond to encampments and the needs of their residents experiencing homelessness using human rights-based approaches. If the UHEI is not extended, it is important to explore how funding can continue as part of Reaching Home. The federal government must lead the way to ensure there are adequate long-term resources for municipalities and community organizations to respond to encampments and support the people living in them.
   2. New action: The federal government should evaluate the UHEI and document lessons learned from the experience, including the results for First Nations, Inuit and Métis people. The evaluation should include the municipalities involved as well as people living in encampments, Indigenous governments and organizations, service providers and advocates. Indigenous data sovereignty should be respected as reflected, for example, in the principles of First Nations Ownership, Control, Access, and Possession (OCAP®). The evaluation results should be used to reinforce the effectiveness of future encampment responses.
   3. New action: Build Canada Homes and the next iteration of the National Housing Strategy should be explicit about a human rights-based approach to housing. Programs should include expected results to reduce the flow of people into encampments and homelessness as well as to support human rights-based pathways out of encampments. It should also be clear how their programs will support closing the housing and infrastructure gap that contributes to the overrepresentation of Indigenous People experiencing housing precarity and homelessness. The federal government must work with provinces and territories to ensure they provide the necessary funding for operating expenses and wrap-around supports
   4. New action: The federal government should continue to work with provinces and territories to deliver the Canada Housing Benefit as an effective tool to help people to exit out of homelessness.
   5. New action: The federal government must work closely with provinces, territories and municipalities to implement human rights-based responses and coordinate healthcare and other social supports with federal housing investments.
2. Commit to a human rights-based approach to address the needs of encampment residents, including meaningful engagement
   1. Existing action: People living in encampments must play a leading role in decision-making processes that affect them. All governments must implement ongoing and meaningful engagement with people living in encampments and those who support them, as outlined in the Advocate's 2025 Guide to meaningful engagement and integrating a human rights-based approach in encampment responses.
3. Respect the inherent rights of Indigenous Peoples: Meaningfully consult with Indigenous Peoples and prioritize investments in preventing and responding to Indigenous homelessness
   1. Existing action: Develop all encampment responses in consultation and cooperation with First Nations, Inuit, and Métis governments and their representative organizations.
   2. Existing action: First Nations, Inuit and Métis governments and representative organizations must be fully supported to develop and provide self-determined, culturally appropriate housing and related services and supports, including supports in urban centers.
   3. New action: All governments should invest in Indigenous-specific supports (emergency shelters, transitional accommodation, outreach workers, supportive housing and permanent housing) through Indigenous governments and organizations. All governments should provide direct dedicated funding to support Indigenous healing (e.g. urban sweat lodges) in urban settings.
4. Take immediate action to protect the right to life and dignity of all people living in encampments, reduce the risks that they face, and help them to stabilize their situation
   1. Updated action: Immediately end forced encampment evictions and criminalization of homelessness, particularly during extreme weather events. Put in place alternatives to evictions that are designed following meaningful engagement with encampment residents to find solutions that meet their needs.
   2. Existing action: All governments must ensure that laws, regulations and bylaws do not further destabilize encampments and expose residents to greater risk of harm and violence.
   3. New action: Provincial, territorial and municipal governments must repeal laws, regulations and bylaws that criminalize and marginalize people experiencing homelessness for occupying public space. This includes putting an end to practices which result in the destruction or confiscation of personal belongings.
   4. New action: All governments should refrain from retaliation and surveillance against service providers and advocates who defend the rights of people living in encampments.
5. Implement immediate measures to address the root causes of encampments and provide access to adequate housing
   1. Updated action: All governments must immediately fund and/or develop adequate housing solutions and supports so that people living in encampments are re-housed as rapidly as possible. These housing solutions must meet the definition of adequate housing which includes security of tenure, affordability, accessibility, suitable location, availability of services, habitability and cultural adequacy. These efforts must also ensure people living in encampments are offered real choices that meet their needs.

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SOURCE Office of the Federal Housing Advocate

View original content: http://www.newswire.ca/en/releases/archive/March2026/03/c8811.html