Housing has turned into this corrupt insanity only serving the healthy and wealthy.

It's difficult to be optimistic about housing when you hear and read everything that's going on in both the rental and ownership of housing. Housing prices and rents have gone into the stratosphere, gobbling up an ever-growing percentage of net income. The sheer amount of information available on Twitter alone, as an example, is both shocking and discouraging. Building code, zoning and land use policies; complex financing/mortgage schemes; money laundering into real estate; political donations by landlords & developers; inequitable taxation in favour of the wealthy...it’s a corrupt mess on a global scale. The United Nations Special Rapporteur on Adequate Housing, Ms Leilani Farha, is a global expert on housing who has been ringing the alarm on this chaos in her reports to the Human Rights Council and in an excellent documentary currently circulating in film festivals (http://pushthefilm.com/). People of all walks of life are struggling to find or keep adequate housing and it's getting worse by the month as prices continue to soar unabated.

It wasn't long ago that the dream of many people was to land a full-time job, have a family and own a home. All of this has changed: full-time permanent positions (benefits and pensions too) disappear regularly at the sake of profits, marriages are failing at alarming levels or not happening at all, those who have children can barely afford to provide for their needs (often basic needs) in far too many cases. And owning a home is becoming a fiction, as is finding rents that aren't going to rob you of what little you have left after the various taxes and user fees (that we've all seen creep upwards and well above salary increases).

But back to housing. I said the following in an email this morning "Housing has turned into this corrupt insanity only serving the healthy and wealthy." Look through some of my Twitter activity and you'll get that message loud and clear. There's already lots of media attention about the global affordability crisis and the efforts of various governments to combat it, unsuccessfully, because we're dealing with TRILLIONS OF DOLLARS in the largest business in the world, housing. Pension funds, real estate investment trusts, big banks and organized crime, the wealth by these key players in housing is insurmountable. As is the political will by some elected officials who justify political donations from some of those sources of wealth.

Look around at prices and what's being built these days: aesthetically pleasing homes that far too often have building code violations or other unacceptable issues, at a time when prices are far out of reach to working-class and middle-class households. Even dual-income households find themselves unable to qualify for a mortgage or struggling to pay rent after all other deductions are accounted for.

My concern has always been with architectural barriers that are perpetuated in building code at a time when the world is aging/ageing and persons with activity limitations (and various disabilities) are on the rise. Again, we're putting out new inventory that applies to a shrinking percentage of buyers. If you aren't wealthy and healthy, then you're on your own with what's left out there. Or homelessness that's reached alarming levels everywhere.

The solution? The exact opposite of what's been happening in the last thirty or forty years. Some countries are far better off with their inventory of affordable and accessible housing, perhaps it's time to learn from their strategies. The elephant in the room are the lawyers, bankers and accountants (our white collar criminals) who have played a key role in creating the climate that we're currently facing and the utter lack of ethics and common decency involved, all based on corporate or selfish greed. Of course I'm a bleeding heart socialist, I've made my living assisting adults with disabilities for more than two decades and have seen first hand their struggles with affordability and accessibility but they're far from the only ones. Documentaries like Push are exposing this nightmare to the masses and fuelling a revolution in housing that's already begun.

We're heading into interesting times, I'm very curious to see what the next 24 months bring to the surface in this corrupt insanity that we call housing.

United Nations State visit to Canada, April 2-12, 2019 by Ms Catalina Devandas Aguilar, UN Special Rapporteur to the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities.

Excerpts below are taken from the video available at http://www.cpac.ca/en/programs/headline-politics/episodes/65969897

02:09-02:23

"...My main finding is that Canada urgently needs to transform (its) system, that systemic change is needed to ensure that people with disabilities can enjoy their human rights on an equal basis with others."

02:30-02:40

"I have noticed that there are significant shortcomings in the way that the federal, provincial and territorial governments implement the rights of persons with disabilities."

02:40-02:50

"In many cases, persons with disabilities have to initiate very lengthy and onerous legal procedures to get their rights recognized."

03:30-03:52

"One thing that is lacking is a comprehensive human rights-based approach in the responses that the governments are giving to this population and this needs to be changed in line with the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities that has been ratified by Canada."

03:53-04:35

"I am deeply concerned, moving to an issue that is fundamental, that is the independent living of persons with disabilities within their communities, and I'm deeply concerned that many persons with disabilities are presented with no other choice except the placement in residential institutions like nursing homes and group homes, and it is important that the country break these segregated approaches and move to inclusive policies that provide the necessary support for persons with disabilities to live independently in their communities. This should be recognized as a human right and not merely as a social assistance program."

06:20-06:42

"...I'm also highly concerned about the specific challenges faced by Indigenous people with disabilities because they are over-represented in the population that face poverty, exclusion and discrimination and that overcoming this structural discrimination is essential to building an inclusive and equal society in Canada."

07:10-07:30

"One of the concerns that I have is that we need to look at the situation of persons with disabilities also residing for long term in psychiatric facilities."

10:05-11:26

"As I said, I think that one of the main challenges of Canada is particularly the provision of home support. Home support that allows persons with disabilities to live independently and to perform all their daily activities in the community with autonomy, and these, there are severe and significant discrepancies across the country in how persons with disabilities are receiving that support. That support is not considered to be an entitlement, it's more like a program that is social assistance and it's tapped. You know, you have funding taps, you have long waiting lists to receive that kind of support, and as a result, in many cases when there are high support needs, people with disabilities by default being sent to residential facilities, which is a fact, I think a risk, that Canada is engaging in a process of re-institutionalization of persons with disabilities and this is something that really needs to be addressed urgently to make sure that services are provided in the community, that support is available for persons with disabilities so that you avoid situations in which nursing homes or home groups or other kind of residential facilities are the only and default option for persons with disabilities. And yes, it is against the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, particularly Article 19."

17:31-18:53

"Yes, with Indigenous populations indeed, Indigenous persons with disabilities, I think that there are dramatic challenges to be addressed and their access to services in a timely manner, and services that are culturally sensitive, that would avoid the risk of assimilation. Many persons with disabilities living on reserve can only access services by leaving their communities, which presents additional challenges. And I do appreciate that Bill C-81 is probably going to, there's going to be an opportunity to discuss with First Nations governments on how to advance, and if, and how, this Bill applies to Indigenous persons with disabilities. What my recommendation is that in that regard, is that it is important that all authorities involved in that process make sure that this process is done in the most efficient, and as fast as possible, to ensure that the needs of persons with disabilities in the Indigenous community are protected as well."

19:30-21:20  Solutions for support in the community are discussed:

                      -community-based services
                      -independent (individualized) funding
                      -remove caps on hours
                      -increase hours of support in the community for high needs individuals rather than  default to institutionalization.

ONE SOLUTION FOR SUPPORT IN THE COMMUNITY THAT WASN'T DISCUSSED WAS THE NEED FOR UNIVERSAL DESIGN FEATURES IN HOUSING. BARRIERS IN HOUSING OFTEN LEAD TO UNSAFE HOME CIRCUMSTANCES, OR IN MORE EXTREME SITUATIONS, TO PREMATURE INSTITUTIONALIZATION BECAUSE HOME ENVIRONMENTS AREN'T TYPICALLY WELCOMING TO A DECLINE IN ABILITIES NOR TO DISABILITIES. RESPONSIBILITY FOR THESE BARRIERS IN LARGE PART RELATE TO BUILDING CODES THAT PERPETUATE THESE BARRIERS IN HOUSING.

A report on Canada will be submitted to the Human Rights Council in March 2020. This will be the second report highlighting the shortcomings of the implementation of the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities in Canada, the first one available at:
https://tbinternet.ohchr.org/_layouts/treatybodyexternal/Download.aspx?symbolno=CRPD%2fC%2fCAN%2fCO%2f1&Lang=en

The initial report on Canada, as well as this State visit, should be a wake-up call to Canada...we must do far better for Canadians with disabilities. We are obligated to do so in the CRPD as well as in our Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms.

Today's Accessibility Town Hall, Queen's Park

MY 3-MINUTE PRESENTATION WILL FOCUS ON ARCHITECTURAL BARRIERS IN HOUSING THAT EXCLUDE PERSONS WITH DISABILITIES

The intended goal of the AODA has been to achieve accessibility for Ontarians with disabilities but one sector where we've failed miserably is housing. I think it's despicable that we're now into our 14th year of the AODA yet no standard has been created for housing; we're intentionally ignoring our human rights' obligations in housing. Worse than that, the "Initial Proposed Accessible Built Environment Standard" dated June 2009 died in 2011 due to intense lobbying against it; Chapter 13 already contained recommendations for housing. This 272-page draft document would have prevented new barriers in housing had it been implemented 10 years ago rather than eliminated. It might have actually decreased the accessible housing crisis that we're now facing.

As it stands, the Ontario Building Code continues to exempt nearly all private housing from barrier-free design requirements in section 3.8.1.1; the only exception is that 15% of units in new apartment buildings are required to be VisitAble, which is the most basic & affordable form of barrier removal in housing. This discriminatory building code policy condones architectural barriers that exclude persons with mobility disabilities from most housing. The unfortunate result is that anyone who needs housing more suited to their changing abilities has no choice but to search for a suitable renovation contractor...or build a custom home...both of which are expensive propositions. 

The myths surrounding barrier removal in housing include the following: it's ugly, it's too expensive, it's too complicated or there's no demand for it. All of these myths are false. It's not ugly, I've personally seen beautiful design in Winnipeg and also in Bolingbrook, Illinois. The cost is far more reasonable in new construction because renovating for accessibility can be up to 20 times more expensive. It's not too complicated because best practices already exist nationwide, home builders simply need to learn from their colleagues who have already done it. And regarding demand, I know there is because we have millions of baby boomers who are already seniors & experiencing a decline in their abilities...and hundreds of thousands of Canadians with a variety of mobility disabilities.

But there is hope. Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation already has decades of experience with barrier removal in housing, one example being their FlexHousing program going back to the early 1990s. As well, the Canadian Standards Association has a section about housing in their B651 accessibility standards. And there are a number of accessibility professionals eager to guide home builders through the process of barrier removal.

What we need is strong leadership to move forward with human rights in housing, to ensure that architectural barriers are prevented as part of our AODA ambitions. We need housing to be welcoming, safe and sustainable...Ontarians with disabilities deserve far better than our current practice of ableism and exclusion. We must act to eliminate the exemption of housing from barrier-free design requirements in Ontario Building Code section 3.8.1.1.

THANK YOU.

This morning's email to Minister Jean-Yves Duclos

Minister Duclos;

I'm writing in response to yesterday's News Release regarding your presentation of Canada's Voluntary National Review at the United Nations High-Level Political Forum on Sustainable Development on Tuesday, July 17th. I'm quite concerned that SDG 11 doesn't mention Universal Design of new dwellings even though our National Housing Strategy specifically makes reference to Universal Design. When mentioning Social Inclusion, Fairness, Equality, Livable, Sustainable and Safe on page 84 of the VNR, my mind automatically thinks of Universal Design:

a) Universal Design and Social Inclusion: building new dwellings with Universal Design ensures social inclusion by welcoming everyone into dwellings, irrespective of disability. The negative impact of architectural barriers is significant; Canadians with mobility disabilities are excluded from the majority of new dwellings because building codes continue to exempt homes from barrier-free design requirements in section 3.8.1.1, a violation of 33 years of Equality Rights in section 15 of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms [delayed to 1985 in section 32 (2)]. I submitted Code Change Request 964 for VisitAbility of new dwellings to the Canadian Commission on Building and Fire Codes on June 30, 2015 because I felt that it was the most economical and simple way to achieve inclusion for Canadians with disabilities in new dwellings. Three years later, this CCR is still in its infancy due to long delays by the Executive Committee, the Use and Egress Committee and the Housing and Small Buildings Committee in reviewing my CCR.

b) Universal Design and Fairness & Equality: how does the National Building Code of Canada, the National Housing Strategy and Canada's efforts with SDG 11 hope to achieve fairness and equality if we continue to condone systemic discrimination in new dwellings with the exemption found in building code section 3.8.1.1? By excluding a growing percentage of Canadians with mobility disabilities from our new dwellings (because there's a correlation between aging and an increase in disability rates), we eliminate any fairness or equality (let alone the many Canadians with mobility disabilities who aren't seniors because all ages are faced with mobility disabilities). 

c) Universal Design and Livability: new dwellings with Universal Design make these homes far more livable across the life span of each home, which often impacts multiple families across more than one generation (if you think of how many occupants each home has in its life span of many decades).

d) Universal Design and Sustainability: Sustainability is a significant area of interest of mine as it relates to Universal Design. If we make reference to the New Urban Agenda 2030 and its Social, Environmental and Financial Sustainability, Universal Design has a positive impact on all three:

i) Social Sustainability: Universal Design of new dwellings would ensure social inclusion of all Canadians by welcoming everyone into any new home. The benefits of social interaction and inclusion for Canadians with mobility disabilities in universally designed new dwellings in significant, let's think of family gatherings where a member of a family with a mobility disability cannot participate because of architectural barriers resulting from our current building codes.

ii) Environmental Sustainability: having to modify a home to suit a person's changing abilities is very carbon intensive. There were the Green House Gases for the original construction, the GHG relating to the demolition and disposal of the original construction, and the GHG for the renovations for the required modifications to suit the person's changing abilities. Not considering Universal Design in the planning stage of any new dwelling has a negative impact on our already fragile environment.

iii) Financial Sustainability: the United Nations has shown that Universal Design in new development only adds one percent of additional cost so it's very economical when planned into a new dwelling. Research from Australia indicates that modifying a home for accessibility can cost up to twenty times more than doing so during the planning stage of a new dwelling. The financial implications of incorporating Universal Design during the planning stage of a new dwelling is significant enough to not be overlooked.

e) Universal Design and Safety: the Public Health Agency of Canada has indicated that seniors' falls in their homes costs our public health system approximately one billion dollars per year (and it also has a devastating impact on their quality of life post-injury). Universal Design of new dwellings creates a much safer environment, the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation research involved in FlexHousing in the 1990s proved this long ago. The adaptability of FlexHousing is based on a number of Universal Design features being incorporated into a home; doing so in a new home decreases the GHG effect of adapting it later on when abilities change.

Page 84 of the Voluntary National Review has the "Rising to the challenge" heading which then speaks of sustainable homes. I hope that my points made above have clarified the positive impacts of Universal Design on Social Inclusion, Fairness, Equality, Livability, Sustainability and Safety. I would be pleased to offer supporting documents if any part of my email needs clarification. I would also be honored to discuss this further if any of your team members at ESDC are interested in the many benefits of Universal Design in new dwellings as part of our National Housing Strategy. In order to champion the advancement of the 2030 Agenda, it is my humble belief that Minister Kirsty Duncan must be included with the eight other ministers that have been given this task by the Right Honourable Prime Minister Justin Trudeau if we intend to leave no one behind, including Canadians with mobility disabilities. 

Here's the link to yesterday's News Release:

https://www.canada.ca/en/employment-social-development/news/2018/07/minister-duclos-will-lead-the-canadian-delegation-for-the-2018-united-nations-high-level-political-forum-on-sustainable-development.html

Here's the link to the Voluntary National Review that Minister Duclos will be presenting on Tuesday at the United Nations HLPF meeting (refer to pages 83 to 89 for SDG 11). 

https://sustainabledevelopment.un.org/content/documents/20312Canada_ENGLISH_18122_Canadas_Voluntary_National_ReviewENv7.pdf

Canada's Building Code development process...it's broken

As a proponent of an active Code Change Request with Canada's National Building Code, I'm confident in saying that our building code development process is broken (federal and provincial/territorial). My Code Change Request 964 for VisitAbility of new dwellings was submitted on June 30, 2015 yet nearly two years later there's much left to be done by the Canadian Commission on Building and Fire Codes to even come close to considering it for their 2020 update. I shouldn't be surprised though because another CCR on dimensions of stairs took decades to complete.

Here's a prime example in Ontario. On January 1/15, Ontario Building Code section 3.8.2.1 (5) started requiring 15% of apartments to be VisitAble (basic/cheapest/easiest form of barrier-free design features known globally). My research on issued building permits in the City of Ottawa has revealed a disturbing trend in loopholes to OBC 3.8.2.1 (5) based on the fact that "apartment" isn't defined in the building code (nor is semi-detached, duplex, triplex, townhouse, or rowhouse), it's left up to the municipalities to define and enforce compliance for these different types of housing. What's happened in Ottawa is that a building (see photo) can be called a "stacked dwelling" to be exempted from the 15% requirement. I have also challenged the issue of 600 square meters of building area (6,458 sq ft) requiring compliance to section 3.8 for Barrier-Free Design but the Ontario Building Code definition of building area is broad enough to permit exemptions for that reason too. So either the OBC doesn't define housing types, or creates broad definitions that create exemptions, it's a mess that continues our shameful history of ignoring human rights in housing, even though our Ontario Human Rights Code is supposed to have primacy over our building code. I guess it's all rhetoric when home builders start their lobbying, always crying poor or complaining that it will kill off their industry (but it's ok to keep ignoring equality rights of persons with disabilities/activity limitations).

Check out the definition of stacked dwelling according to City of Ottawa zoning. "Independent entrance to the interior" doesn't seem to be the case for the building on the right because there are roughly 13 exterior doors for 19 units, some have a shared exterior door as the covered entranceways reveal in the photo above.

I emailed an Ontario Code Development Coordinator and was told the following:

My response today was the following:

"Ms Smith;

I'm confused by your email. You're telling me that I would need to submit a CCR, wasting countless public tax dollars, and wait until 2022 to possibly have "apartment" defined, something that should have already happened decades ago? To then further deflect it to the NBC, which would delay it even longer, leaves me questioning the millions of dollars that go into the code development process. I am speechless."

I shouldn't be surprised though, Ontario has continued with Tarion (our failed home warranty program) even though there's been a formal review of its many problems. Consumers have a lousy home warranty program, building code is being manipulated by municipalities to create loopholes to compliance, and Ontario seems perfectly content in ignoring the most basic element, defining what exactly an apartment is (and other types of housing). Without a clear definition of "apartment" in our building code, it's allowing a number of projects in Ontario to avoid compliance to OBC 3.8.2.1 (5). 

There's even a video on YouTube about building code violations of accessibility requirements in a new building funded by public dollars, it's a disgusting mess that no one seems willing to acknowledge. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uRmVBmOy6xg&t=6s

I'm willing to provide specifics if anyone is interested, just reach out to me on social media and we can arrange it by email. I'm completely disgusted with the poor leadership shown in Ontario, a province that states that it will be fully accessible by January 1, 2025 (see https://www.ontario.ca/laws/statute/05a11). Housing, where all of us spend the greatest portion of any day, is apparently off-limits for an accessible Ontario. I guess our Human Rights Code is a hoax then, there's no right to Occupancy of Accommodation when our only dwelling type in Ontario that requires VisitAbility has seen quite a few "stacked dwelling" exemptions in Ottawa, it's simply ridiculous and unacceptable.

I suspect that I've provided sufficient proof that our code development process is broken, and that there's no desire to improve it apparently.

UN Conference of State Parties, June 13-15, New York

As we approach the tenth Conference of State Parties pertaining to the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, I view June 13th to 15th as a defining moment for the government of Prime Minister Trudeau. The mandate letter presented to Cabinet Minister Carla Qualtrough in November, 2015 spoke of greater accessibility and inclusion for Canadians with disabilities. Next week's COSP10 is an opportune moment to reinvigorate Canada's commitment made to the CRPD in our 2010 ratification; we must now announce the accession of the Optional Protocol and implement the many recommendations made on April 12th by the CRPD Committee. Prime Minister Pierre Elliot Trudeau guaranteed rights for Canadians with disabilities on April 17, 1982 with our Constitution Act and Charter of Rights and Freedoms, although those Section 15 rights were delayed for three years in Section 32 (2).
 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f4tg_BbLqbw&t=219s&index=4&list=FLMgvym8hKEjWuxmnGNvR3Tg

2017 is not only Canada's 150th anniversary but the 32nd anniversary of Section 15 rights for Canadians with disabilities yet we continue to see thousands of human rights complaints per year, as reported to the United Nations by the Canadian Human Rights Commission in their December 2015 report. Canada's public consultations for the accession of the CRPD Optional Protocol concluded on March 16th, which then opened consultations with the Provinces and Territories. Today marks 83 days of consultations, surely we can come to a conclusion by June 13th and announce our accession after 90 days of consultations with the Provinces & Territories, and seven years after the ratification of the CRPD.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has made a number of comments regarding diversity, equality and inclusion since taking office in November 2015, COSP10 will be a defining moment in his term to bring this to fruition. Continuing with status quo, with the thousands of human rights complaints per year, will erode his credibility with millions of Canadians with disabilities and with Member States that admire Canada for having been the first country to guarantee disability rights in a nation's Constitution. Prime Minister Trudeau must ensure that Canada's reputation on the world stage isn't tarnished any further, we must announce our accession of the Optional Protocol no later than June 15th. Anything less will surely put the prospects of a second term in question.

Our current housing crisis: don't blame the consumer

The current housing crisis seems to have many theories but very little accountability. Let's ask ourselves who's been in positions of authority throughout the decades of our decline in affordability and insufficient efforts in sustainability. Our democratically elected governments are the ones who have been creating questionable policy (monetary, land use, building codes, etc). Our urban planners have brought these policies into action. And our housing industry hasn't really done a great job of planning for demographics or sustainability. The consumer in large cities is left with a dwindling supply of inventory, which unfortunately has caused bidding wars and a crisis in affordability.

Who's to blame? The consumer, the one left struggling to make ends meet because of rising costs which far outpace their salaries? Or is it our leaders who are ineffectively reacting to crises rather than seeking out global best practices?

I've tweeted many times on the subject of Canada's adoption of the United Nations New Urban Agenda 2030 (which happened on October 20/16) by using the hashtags #NewUrbanAgenda2030, #NUA2030 and #NUA. Habitat III was the UN's largest conference in history (35,000 attended) and many countries adopted the NUA2030. Here's it is as a download: https://www2.habitat3.org/bitcache/97ced11dcecef85d41f74043195e5472836f6291?vid=588897&disposition=inline&op=view

What I like about the New Urban Agenda, and its associated Sustainable Development Goals, is the fact that thousands of experts have collaborated in its creation, and thousands more are involved in ensuring its successful implementation (see @urbancampaign). I also like that sustainability in the New Urban Agenda is environmental, financial and social, and encompasses 17 goals to transform our urban landscape (see http://www.undp.org/content/undp/en/home/sustainable-development-goals.html). I'd much rather put my faith in thousands of experts, drawing on global best practices, than on our current system of reactive policy that's failed consumers miserably.  My hope is that Canada's National Housing Strategy, due some time in November, will have a heavy emphasis on the wisdom within the New Urban Agenda. Let's keep in mind that the World Bank is monitoring sustainable development (http://datatopics.worldbank.org/sdgs/) so this will have a bearing on monetary policy at some point in the near future.

I look forward to the next few months to see how our policy makers, urban planners and the housing industry respond and adapt to transformative change in new housing that is so desperately needed because consumers are at a breaking point.