Office of the Federal Housing Advocate welcomes re-appointment of Marie-Josée Houle

Press Release

February 11, 2025

The Office of the Federal Housing Advocate welcomes the re-appointment of Marie-Josée Houle, by order in council, who will continue serving as the Federal Housing Advocate.

Ms. Houle will serve for a three-year term, effective February 21, 2025.

Ms. Houle was appointed as Canada’s first Federal Housing Advocate in February 2022, marking a new chapter in a career defined by her work in the affordable housing and homelessness sector.

In her tenure as Federal Housing Advocate, Ms. Houle has used her mandate to spotlight key issues of national concern and provide evidence-based recommendations to address the housing and homelessness crisis.

Ms. Houle remains one of the country’s top voices advocating for the human rights of encampment residents. Her national review of homeless encampments in Canada is the first of its kind to engage encampment residents across the country to arrive at recommendations to governments. This work successfully resulted in the creation of a new federal program and funding of up to $500 million for human rights-based responses to encampments across Canada.

Through her work, Ms. Houle exposed the serious underfunding and lack of safe housing infrastructure for Métis communities in Saskatchewan and Inuit in Nunavut and Nunatsiavut.

She has also successfully led advocacy campaigns with federal ministers, premiers, housing ministers, and regional housing corporation leaders to advance the recommendations and drive change on these systemic issues.

The Advocate’s role has emerged as a catalyst for change by convening rights holders and people with lived experience of housing need and homelessness, front-line organizations and advocates, and decision-makers to arrive at human rights-based solutions. The independent, expert work of the Advocate offers meaningful policy recommendations and solutions to decision-makers that are evidence-based and that reflect the voices of those who are most disadvantaged. The Advocate is a crucial accountability mechanism to guide governments on their human rights obligations and help them to implement effective housing policy.

The Federal Housing Advocate looks forward to working with the Minister of Justice and Minister of Housing, Infrastructure and Communities to ensure that funding is extended until 2028 to align with her renewed term. This funding is presently set to expire in March 2026. This would allow her to continue to focus on Indigenous housing, prioritize work on housing for youth, and advocate for accessible housing for seniors and people with disabilities. Equally important will be to monitor and advance the progress of her work so far, and engage with rightsholders to explore key issues that matter to all Canadians.

– 30 –

Quote

“I am honoured to continue the important work of the Federal Housing Advocate. I am proud of the work my office and I have accomplished so far to lay a strong foundation for the right to housing in Canada. I look forward to further advancing this critical work by focusing on Indigenous housing, prioritizing housing for youth, and advocating for accessible housing for seniors and people with disabilities. I am excited to continue building relationships with people in disadvantaged circumstances and leaders alike to drive meaningful solutions for those impacted by the housing and homelessness crisis.”

– Marie-Josée Houle, Federal Housing Advocate

Background

The Office of the Federal Housing Advocate, housed at the Canadian Human Rights Commission, helps to promote and protect the human right to housing in Canada. The Advocate is a non-partisan watchdog for housing and homelessness in Canada, with a mandate to engage with rightsholders, offer human-rights based guidance to decision-makers, and inform meaningful policy change on key systemic issues.
The Advocate advances the human right to housing by amplifying the voices of those facing housing need and homelessness in Canada and holding governments to account on their human rights obligations.
The Advocate has initiated two review panel hearings at the National Housing Council, the first on the financialization of purpose-built rental housing and the second, which is currently underway, on the right to safe, adequate and affordable housing for women, Two-Spirit, trans, and gender-diverse people.
In partnership with the Canadian Human Rights Commission, the Advocate’s office has developed a framework for monitoring the right to housing for people with disabilities. The findings demonstrate that people with disabilities are overrepresented in all aspects of inadequate housing and homelessness. The Federal Housing Advocate is preparing to formally request the National Housing Council form a review panel to examine the issue of inaccessible housing.
The Advocate’s study on the financialization of housing in partnership with some of Canada’s top housing experts has brought this issue and the harm it is causing to the attention of Parliamentarians.
People in Canada who are affected by housing need or homelessness can make a submission to the Advocate on the systemic housing issues they are facing.
The National Housing Strategy Act creates a series of accountability tools that aim to address housing need and homelessness in Canada, including the National Housing Strategy, the Federal Housing Advocate, and the National Housing Council.
The National Housing Strategy was released on November 22, 2017, and promised legislation that included a rights-based approach to housing. The National Housing Strategy Act was introduced in April 2019 and received Royal Assent on June 21, 2019. It came into force on July 9, 2019.