Housing minister refuses to say housing is a human right

The province’s new housing minister won’t say whether he believes adequate housing is a human right.

On Monday, the first day of the legislature’s spring sitting, The Independent put the question to Fred Hutton.

“I think that at this point in time, I’m not going to answer your question, or give a label to that, whether or not it is,” he said. “But I mean, I know everything is being reviewed at all times, on what something is or isn’t. But what I do know is that people need to have somewhere to stay each and every night.”

His refusal comes as the province grapples with a housing crisis and a rise in homelessness as the cost of living continues to soar.

It also comes less than three weeks after a report from the Canadian Human Rights Commission called on provinces and territories to “adopt provincial or territorial legislation recognizing the human right to adequate housing as defined in international law.”

The report, authored by federal housing advocate Marie-Josée Houle, calls the rise of homeless encampments across Canada a “human rights crisis” due to a “larger, systemic failure to uphold the right of all people to adequate housing without discrimination.”

Hutton said he hasn’t read the Canadian Human Rights Commission report yet, but that he will in the coming days.

“I was sworn in on Tuesday morning, and of course there’s been multiple briefings going on. That is on the list to look at that report,” he said. “At this point in time, what I can tell you about is that this is a huge file.”

A former broadcaster, Hutton left journalism in 2020 to help Andrew Furey in his leadership campaign. He then worked as a senior advisor to the premier until he entered a by-election race for the Liberals in Conception Bay East – Bell Island last November. He won his seat on Jan. 30 and was tapped by Furey on Feb. 29 to serve as government’s housing minister.

Housing “absolutely” a human right

Opposition leaders were dismayed by Hutton’s remarks. 

“I don’t think you need a report to believe or to state that housing is indeed a human right,” NDP leader Jim Dinn said. “Ask the people who are still in tent city if it’s a human right. Ask the people who are on moderate incomes, the seniors who can’t afford rent, the young people who are paying mortgage-like rents but can’t afford to save for a house, families who are in danger of being evicted. And I would have to say that they would very clearly state that it is a human right.”

Housing is “absolutely” a human right, “and needs to be dealt with that way,” PC leader Tony Wakeham said Monday. “And if the new minister of housing is not prepared to do that, then there’s a problem right off the bat with the new minister of housing, because fundamentally, that’s exactly what it should be.”

Laurel Huget, a volunteer with Tent City for Change, the encampment outside Colonial Building in St. John’s, said she and others were hopeful after learning that Furey had created a new ministerial portfolio specifically for housing, but that Hutton’s remarks Monday are concerning.

“My goodness, I know the man is just getting settled into a brand new role and probably wants to take his time getting down to specifics,” she said, “but if you can’t recognize someone’s basic human need — housing as a fundamental right — that spells a little bit of worry for us.”

Jeff Gellner, a resident protestor at Tent City for Change, told The Independent Monday that Hutton’s refusal to acknowledge housing as a human right is “bullshit.”

Housing a human right longer than NL a province

Adequate housing has been recognized as a human right in international law for decades, first in the 1948 Universal Declaration of Human Rights, then in the 1966 International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights.

According to the United Nations, under international law, “to be adequately housed means having secure tenure—not having to worry about being evicted or having your home or lands taken away. It means living somewhere that is in keeping with your culture, and having access to appropriate services, schools, and employment.”

In 2019 the Canadian government passed legislation recognizing housing as a human right. The National Housing Strategy Act requires the federal government to apply a human rights-based approach to housing in its laws and policies. 

The Act also created the position of the federal housing advocate, an “independent, nonpartisan watchdog, empowered to drive meaningful action to address housing need and homelessness in Canada.”

According to the Canadian Human Rights Commission’s website, Houle is tasked with “making recommendations to improve Canada’s housing laws, policies and programs so that they enable people and families in Canada to have access to adequate, affordable and safe housing that meets their needs.”

Last November Newfoundland and Labrador Human Rights Commission Executive Director Carey Majid said her hands are tied with the unprecedented number of calls coming into her office related to housing.

“How can we as a commission respond to this?” she said. “It’s a struggle because we’re limited by human rights legislation.”

Provincial legislation likely a matter of time

While all provincial and territorial human rights codes protect against the “denial of housing and/or discrimination in the housing sphere,” no jurisdiction “enshrines housing as a stand-alone right in its human rights code or other laws,” according to a 2019 federal research paper on housing rights in Canada.

For years advocates have pushed for housing to be recognized as a human right in Canadian law, a movement that’s grown since the Trudeau government’s National Housing Strategy Act came into force.

In 2021 then-leader of the Nova Scotia NDP Gary Burrill introduced a private member’s bill that would enshrine housing as a fundamental human right in provincial law. The following April, Nova Scotia’s PC government used its majority to kill the bill in a 29-24 vote.

Wakeham and Dinn said there are no plans in their caucuses to introduce a similar private member’s bill in Newfoundland and Labrador, though Dinn said that with sufficient pressure, the Furey government could be “shamed” into tabling legislation. 

Dinn said the Liberals have been “treating housing as a commodity, and they have left it to the private sector and financialized corporate landlords, which have basically exploited people who are just trying to find a decent place to live. That’s always been the issue here.

“But if you treat it as a human right, then government’s got to get involved and make sure that there’s affordable housing for people so that they’re not forced to live in shelters.”

Today I asked @GovNL's new housing minister @Fred_Hutton if he believes housing is a human right. 🧵 1/8#nlpoli pic.twitter.com/ShKQXBKFgO

— Justin Brake (@berrygrounds) March 4, 2024

Asked if the government will decide whether it believes housing is a human right once Hutton reads the report, he said they will “judge it accordingly.”

Houle’s report calls on provinces to “strengthen protection of tenant rights, including rent control and vacancy control, as well as protection against above-guideline rent increases, forced evictions for rent arrears and evictions into homelessness.”

It also asks provincial governments to “develop programs to ensure that people residing in encampments, shelter and precarious housing are aware of their human rights, including the right to housing.”

Hutton said he hasn’t yet visited Tent City for Change, which hosted about a dozen unhoused people Monday night, but that he “likely will,” though he doesn’t know when.