The Canadian Centre for Housing Rights (CCHR) is Canada’s leading non-profit organization working to advance the right to housing. For the first 35 years of their existence – from 1987 until 2022 – CCHR was called the Centre for Equality Rights in Accommodation (CERA).

The Canadian Centre for Housing Rights is an organization that promotes human rights in housing. CCHR works to remove the barriers that keep disadvantaged individuals and families from accessing and retaining the housing they need.

CCHR’s core programs focus on casework and test case litigation; women; eviction prevention; ESCR – economic, social and cultural rights education; and public education and research.

Their story

Every year, they provide much needed supports to hundreds of renters facing eviction and human rights issues in their housing. They also provide education on housing law, human rights and eviction prevention to a variety of audiences, including vulnerable renters, housing providers and service providers.

As they continue to serve clients to help them stay housed and educate housing providers about their responsibilities, they are also compiling research and data to ignite public action and encourage decision makers at municipal, provincial and national levels to implement the right to housing for all. This work includes engaging in law reform as a means to advance rights-based housing policy where traditional avenues of policy advocacy may not be effective.

About their research program

One key element of CCHR’s mandate is to undertake innovative research to inform the development and implementation of evidence-based policies that promote housing security for everyone living in Canada. Their research, along with all work undertaken across the organization, is guided and shaped by the seven right to housing elements: accessibility, affordability, adequacy, habitability, security of tenure, location (near services and infrastructure), and cultural adequacy.

Annual reports

Their 2025 report “Measuring discrimination in rental housing across Canada” is the first ever national study to measure the extent of discrimination experienced by marginalized renters when they are searching to secure a rental home, and while living in one.

Executive summary

Over several decades, CCHR has consistently heard from renters facing discrimination in the rental housing market. Prospective renters will often report that they have been denied the opportunity to view or apply for an apartment, or that their rental applications are rejected based on some aspect of their identity, such as their immigration status, disability, gender identity, sexual orientation, racial or ethnic background, age, the composition of their family, or because they are receiving social assistance.

To deepen our understanding of housing discrimination in Canada, this research study conducted a discrimination audit of landlords and a survey of renters. In a discrimination audit, applicants of similar identities, except for one or two variable differences (e.g., racial identity, family status, gender identity, newcomer status, or income source), respond to job or housing adverts. Audits can be carried out using email or phone. The responses to the inquiries are recorded and then analyzed by researchers to determine if the individual with the marginalized identity experienced discrimination when compared to a control profile that is unlikely to experience discrimination.

This research set out to expand the scope of our previous research in two key ways:

• This research expanded its geographic focus beyond Toronto to discern the extent of housing discrimination on a national scale. This study is the first national discrimination audit focused on housing in Canada.
• Whereas the 2009 and 2022 audits examined discrimination that took place after an initial inquiry about a housing unit (pre-tenancy), in this study the discrimination audit was accompanied by a national survey that examines renter perceptions of discrimination both in those initial interactions, and the discrimination experienced once an individual has secured and is living in a rental unit.

The findings of this study are concerning. Echoing their previous research findings in Toronto, this study found that marginalized groups face discrimination when searching for rental housing in communities across Canada. It also confirmed that marginalized groups report facing an increased incidence of discrimination when living in their rental unit. These findings are particularly concerning because they compound the barriers that marginalized groups already face in accessing adequate and affordable housing as a result of Canada’s ongoing and unprecedented housing affordability crisis.

Summary of Findings

The pre-tenancy landlord discrimination audit found:

Being racialized versus being white was associated with a:

• 14.34 per cent decrease in response rate.
• 18.83 per cent decrease in word count, meaning that marginalized groups received markedly shorter replies to their inquiries when compared to white men.

Being racialized and having a child versus being racialized and not having a child was associated with a:

• 20.23 per cent decrease in response rate.
• 28.34 per cent shorter response (measured in number of words).
• 36.44 per cent less friendly response.

The survey of renters’ perceptions of discrimination found:

• On average, people who identified themselves as a member of a racialized group (versus white), were asked 27.54 per cent more personal questions (example: asked about their marital status, whether they planned to have children, their immigration status or whether they smoked) by landlords or property managers.
• People who identified themselves as a member of a racialized group were also found to be rejected (example: told that the unit had already been rented or told that it would not be suitable for them) 9.32 per cent more often by landlords or property managers when looking for a unit to rent.
• When living in their unit, people who identified themselves as having a disability were 66.7 per cent more likely to be expected to follow different rules, were 316.67 per cent more likely to experience landlord aggression and were 20.37 per cent more likely to have their boundaries violated by their landlord when compared with people who did not identify as having a disability.
• People who identified themselves as newcomers to Canada were asked 30.73 per cent more personal questions and tended to be rejected 9.96 per cent more often when looking for a unit to rent. People who reported having children (versus those without children) were asked for 10.58 per cent more pieces of documentation to prove their income and employment, and were asked 24.66 per cent more personal questions while looking for an apartment unit.

Summary of Policy Recommendations

The results of this research indicate that the groups who face more barriers to accessing rental housing are lower income households, families with children, single people, women, Indigenous people, racialized people, newcomers and people with disabilities. To address these barriers, the Government of Canada should urgently take the following measures.

Reduce barriers to accessing affordable and adequate housing.

• Dedicate funding to support intersectional organizations and civil society groups that address the unique challenges that different groups face in securing housing.
• Amend the National Housing Strategy Act (NHSA) to explicitly recognize discrimination based on human rights grounds as a barrier to the enjoyment of the right to housing.
• Require provincial and territorial governments to amend their Residential Tenancies Acts to prevent discrimination during the pre-tenancy period.

Prevent landlord harassment and neglect in the home.

• Increase funding to federal, provincial and territorial human rights tribunals and commissions to ensure complaints of discrimination are addressed swiftly.
• Increase funding to legal aid systems so that people who are raising a human rights complaint can get assistance and representation throughout the process.
• Require provincial and territorial governments to establish minimum residential maintenance standards in their laws and support municipalities in the development of rental licensing programs to ensure rental homes are well maintained and livable.
• Create and fund rental housing navigation services to help renters access the supports they need and mediate with landlords on their behalf when issues arise during tenancies.

Mitigate the impacts of the financialization of housing.

• Improve targets for government-funded affordable housing and prioritize funding allocations to non-profit providers to ensure that marginalized groups have access to housing that meets their needs.
• Collaborate with other levels of government to ensure that affordable and non-market housing options are protected and expanded for lower income households.
• Work with provincial and territorial governments to implement effective rent regulation measures, including vacancy control, to prevent unfair rent increases and economic evictions.
• Overcome the legal and operational bottlenecks in addressing housing discrimination by funding and investigating the nature, scope and impact of discriminatory housing practices.

The experiences of discrimination described in this report are damaging and have negative impacts on the ability of individuals and families to thrive in Canada. It is important that discrimination in housing against newcomers and members of equity-deserving groups is foregrounded in public conversations and that action is taken on the individual as well as at the policy level to prevent and address it.

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Thank you for taking the time to inform yourself about one aspect of discriminatory treatment in housing. Learn more about Canadian Centre for Housing Rights (CCHR) and access a copy of their annual report by clicking on this link.