Housing Homelessness and the Law

3 credits · Undergraduate

This 3-credit seminar critically examines issues relating to housing, homelessness, and the law. Housing is a fundamental human need, but affordable, secure housing remains elusive for many. International, federal, provincial, and municipal laws and policies shape housing realities and experiences, and housing also engages multiple substantive areas of law including contract, property, criminal, administrative, human rights, and family law. The seminar introduces students to the context and policy debates around housing and homelessness in Canada, and examines issues relating to housing and homelessness through multiple legal and interdisciplinary lenses. Seminar topics include Indigenous peoples and housing, the international human right to housing, Canada’s federal housing legislation, approaches to the regulation of homelessness, and litigation about homelessness and the right to housing. We will also study residential tenancies law and procedures, with a special focus on evictions and access to justice in administrative housing law tribunals. Finally, the seminar explores policy and law reform proposals for the future of housing justice in Canada.