Filling the Gaps in Housing: Tracking Legislative Responses to COVID-10 in Emergency Housing Initiatives

COVID-19 Research Area(s): Environment, Epidemiology & Public Health

Secure and safe housing is a social determinant of health, including mental health (Forchuk, Cheryl, Dickins, Kevin & Corring, Deborah, "Social Determinants of Health: Housing and Income" (2016) 18 Healthcare Quarterly 27). The COVID-19 emergency has also exposed housing as a health solution: social distancing necessitates separate, secure housing units in order to 'flatten the curve' and reduce community infection (BC Housing, Covid-19, online: https://www.bchousing.org/covid-19. This project responds to Node priorities by gathering data to assess legislative responses in Canada's three most-populous Census Metropolitan Areas (Toronto, Montréal, and Vancouver) to assess the objectives, achievements, and gaps in emergency housing initiatives. The aim is to: (1) document the strategies adopted by different jurisdictions in relation to housing need; and (2) how the solutions crafted to respond to housing vulnerability affect existing housing challenges, including homelessness, housing precarity, the regulation of short-term rentals, and geographic housing disparity.