Housing Rights Advisory Committee
The full agenda, as filed
All 11 items in the clerk’s order. Each carries the city’s own words: the staff recommendation, what the body decided, and its status. Nothing below is written by us.
HS8.1received
Housing Rights Advisory Committee Chair, Elizabeth McIsaac, will provide an update to the committee.
The Housing Rights Advisory Committee received the item for information.
HS8.2amended
Advancing the Right to Adequate Housing in the 2026 City of Toronto Budget
We are writing to recommend ways that the City can use its maximum available resources in the 2026 Budget to progressively advance the right to adequate housing. Our recommendations focus on supports for people in greatest need (i.e., those who are unhoused and those experiencing complex health challenges), renters at risk of evictions, and people who need help gaining access to affordable rental housing. We also suggest ways that the City can improve how it reports on investments in housing and homelessness programs.
The Housing Rights Advisory Committee recommended that the Executive Committee: 1. Request City Council to request the Mayor to consider, in the development of the 2026 budget, ways to maximize available resources to support people in greatest housing need, tenants in need of eviction support and other related services, and more transparent reporting of how investments are being used towards these efforts.
Staff recommendation as filed
The Housing Rights Advisory Committee recommends that Executive Committee: 1. Request City Council to request the Mayor to consider, in the development of the 2026 Budget, ways to maximize available resources to support people in greatest housing need, tenants in need of eviction support and other related services, and more transparent reporting of how investments are being used towards these efforts.
HS8.3received
Centralized Access System for Affordable Rental and Rent-Geared-to-Income Homes
In response to Item HS7.8 , Yolisa de Jager, Manager, Access to Housing and Sarah Blackstock, Director, Tenants Services and Support, Housing Secretariat, will give a presentation on centralized access system for affordable rental and Rent-Geared-to-Income (RGI) homes. The presentation will provide an overview of the City's centralized access system for RGI homes, which will also include affordable rental homes in 2026; an explanation of the differences between RGI and affordable rental homes; an overview of how human rights principles are informing the design, implementation and plans for continuous improvement of the access system and responses to questions previously posed by the Housing Rights Advisory Committee.
The Housing Rights Advisory Committee received the item for information.
HS8.4received
Supporting Unhoused Rights Holders Working Group Chair Update
The Chair of the Supporting Unhoused Rights Holders Working Group will provide an update and share the outcomes of the group's engagement on the City's draft Access to Shelter Framework, which responds to Item CC28.2 .
The Housing Rights Advisory Committee received the item for information.
HS8.5amended
Improving Access to Housing Working Group Chair Update
The Chair of the Improving Access to Housing Working Group will provide an update and share the outcomes of the group's discussions.
The Housing Rights Advisory Committee recommended that: 1. The Executive Director, Housing Secretariat, invite the Co-operative Housing Federation of Toronto to provide a presentation at a meeting of the Housing Rights Advisory Committee in 2026 on how households access co-operative housing and how the supply can be increased to address the growing demand for safe, affordable, and adequate housing.
HS8.6received
Maintaining Housing Working Group Chair Update
The Chair of the Maintaining Housing Working Group will provide an update and share the outcomes of the group's engagement on the City's Rental Replacement and Demolition Policy for Vulnerable Tenants.
The Housing Rights Advisory Committee received the item for information.
HS8.7adopted
Disaggregated Race-Based Data Collection in Social Housing
I would like to recommend that the Housing Rights Advisory Committee (HRAC) endorse the recommendations of the Confronting Anti-Black Racism Advisory Committee in Item CR7.3 - Addressing Evictions through Disaggregated Race-Based Data in Social Housing , which were adopted by the Economic and Community Development Committee at its meeting on October 28, 2025 ( Item EC24.6 ). Disaggregated data collection is a central accountability and monitoring mechanism which can be used to assess progress in the fulfillment of the right to adequate housing and identify potential systemic barriers to housing. Equity-based data collection tools for vulnerable tenants in social housing would support HRAC's fulfillment of its mandate by ensuring that the needs of those with living/lived experiences of housing precarity, discrimination, and homelessness are reflected in City programs and service delivery. This additionally, aligns with the aims of HRAC's motion ( Item HS6.9 ) requesting an assessment of opportunities for collecting disaggregated data on vulnerable tenants in multi-tenant housing, to better identify priority populations that may be disproportionately impacted by housing instability. In sum, I believe it is important to champion all efforts to support the City's commitment to progressively realize the right to adequate housing, as affirmed in the Toronto Housing Charter .
The Housing Rights Advisory Committee: 1. Endorsed the Confronting Anti-Black Racism Advisory Committee's recommendations in Item CR7.3 - Addressing Evictions through Disaggregated Race-Based Data in Social Housing.
Staff recommendation as filed
That the Housing Rights Advisory Committee: 1. Endorse the Confronting Anti-Black Racism Advisory Committee's recommendations in Item CR7.3 - Addressing Evictions through Disaggregated Race-Based Data in Social Housing.
HS8.8received
Rental Replacement: Vulnerable Tenants Project
Johanna Hashim, Senior Planner, and Christine Ono, Project Manager, Strategic Initiatives, Policy and Analysis, City Planning, will give a presentation on Rental Replacement: Vulnerable Tenants Project. This presentation is in follow-up to an initial consultation with the Housing Rights Advisory Committee's Maintaining Housing Working Group. An overview of a draft process and eligibility criteria which incorporates input from key stakeholders will be presented.
The Housing Rights Advisory Committee received the item for information.
HS8.9received
Update on the City’s Housing as a Human Right Training Program
Emiko Ono, Manager, Program Policy and Meredith Kratzmann, Senior Strategic Policy Consultant, Program Policy, from the Housing Secretariat will provide a brief update on the City's plans to procure and implement a 'Housing as a Human Right' training program for staff in housing-related City divisions, agencies, and corporations.
The Housing Rights Advisory Committee received the item for information.
HS8.10received
Potential Impacts of Bill 60 on Vulnerable Tenants
In response to EX27.1 - Impacts of Provincial Legislation that Weakens Rental Protections , Aisha Silim, Manager, Renters Strategy Unit, Housing Secretariat, will provide a presentation on the impact of provincial Bill 60 on renters and City services.
The Housing Rights Advisory Committee received the item for information.
HS8.11adopted
As a member of the Housing Rights Advisory Committee (HRAC) and Chair of its Supporting Unhoused Rights Holders Working Group, it is imperative to my work - and the broader work of the Committee - that the rights of people who are unsheltered and living in encampments are both respected and upheld in the City of Toronto's policies and practices. It is therefore of the utmost concern that recent changes to the Interdivisional Protocol on Encampments (IDP), passed by City Council on November 14th 2025 , represents retrogression - a violation of unhoused people's human rights. These changes effectively suspend human rights for encampment residents within prescribed "bubble zones," including by placing a limit on the number of shelter offers a resident can receive. This is a deliberate incursion on the established human rights principles set out in the original IDP, i.e., retrogression.
The Housing Rights Advisory Committee recommended that the Executive Committee: 1. Request City Council to request that the General Manager, Shelter and Support Services ensure that any changes to the Interdivisional Protocol on Encampments (IDP) be assessed for compliance with the City's obligation to realize the right to adequate housing, as affirmed in the Toronto Housing Charter, national and international law, and be undertaken in consultation with the Housing Rights Advisory Committee.
Staff recommendation as filed
The Housing Rights Advisory Committee recommends that: 1. City Council request that the General Manager, Shelter and Support Services ensure that any changes to the Interdivisional Protocol on Encampments (IDP) be assessed for compliance with the City's obligation to realize the right to adequate housing, as affirmed in the Toronto Housing Charter, national and international law, and be undertaken in consultation with the Housing Rights Advisory Committee.