Housing as a human right, rent supplements and the new Canada Housing Benefit

Abstract

‘Demand-side’ approaches to housing affordability—including rent supplements and housing allowances—are used to address housing precarity in many countries. A core program of Canada’s new National Housing Strategy is the Canada Housing Benefit (CHB), an allowance co-designed and co-funded by provinces and territories alongside the federal government. We explore the implementation of the CHB in one province (Nova Scotia) through the experiences of those receiving rental assistance and non-profit staff supporting them. First, we ask whether the provision of rent subsidies meets a rights-based approach to housing, focusing on affordability, habitability, and security of tenure. Second, we ask whether the transition from the former rent supplement system to the new CHB facilitates or inhibits a rights-based approach. We find that tenants on either subsidy live in housing which is unaffordable, of poor quality, and may lack security of tenure; secondly, the introduction of the new CHB has largely left tenants worse off than under the previous rent subsidy system.