In 2023–2024, the National Housing Council held its first Review panel on the financialization of housing as a result of the Advocate's request in 2022.
The hearings, focused on the Financialization of purpose-built rental housing, examined topics such as:
- the impact of the financialization of purpose-built rental housing on the enjoyment of the human right to adequate housing and its progressive realization
- the federal role on this issue, including laws, policies, programs, regulations, and other actions or inactions that may be exacerbating the financialization of purpose-built rental housing and the negative impacts associated with it
- solutions within the jurisdiction of Parliament to address the financialization of housing in order to protect the right to adequate housing and advance its progressive realization in Canada, which may include opportunities to work with provincial, territorial and municipal levels of government to take measures to achieve these ends
The Review panel is an opportunity for public participation, and the hearings included organizations with expertise in human rights, members of affected communities and the organizations that represent them, and representatives from the rental housing sector in Canada. The Federal Housing Advocate contributed written and oral presentations to the hearings.
The Review panel – made of up of three members of the National Housing Council – issued its final report on May 27, 2024, with its opinion and recommended actions that the government of Canada should take to address the financialization of housing. It was submitted to the federal Minister of Housing, Infrastructure and Communities.