How using a human rights-based approach to housing can deliver sustainable solutions
| | | Rethinking Encampments Through a Right to Housing Lens Wednesday, April 30 | 12-1:30 p.m. ET | Live Zoom Webinar | | | | | | Advancing the Right to Housing Through Municipal Action Join us for an essential and impactful conversation moderated by Canadian Urban Institute President & CEO Mary W. Rowe, on how a human rights-based approach to housing can move us beyond short-term fixes and toward sustainable, community-driven solutions. Hosted by The Shift and the Canadian Urban Institute, in partnership with the Association of Municipalities of Ontario (AMO), this webinar will offer practical guidance for municipalities and community leaders ready to take meaningful action. Experts will explore how cities can align their strategies with the right to housing through focused, collaborative efforts. You'll hear from Leilani Farha (The Shift) and leaders working on the front lines of housing and homelessness, including Jeff Willmer, Board Chair of A Better Tent City in Kitchener, and Kaite Burkholder Harris, Executive Director of the Alliance to End Homelessness Ottawa. They will share how their organizations are driving change through innovative, rights-based models of care and support. The session will also explore the policy frameworks, challenges, and opportunities shaping this work. An interactive poll will offer attendees a chance to reflect on their own municipal practices, identify shared challenges, and connect with peers across the country. Whether you're a policymaker, housing advocate, or community leader, this is your opportunity to learn, reflect, and contribute to the growing movement to advance housing as a human right in Canada.
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| | Executive Director | Alliance to End Homelessness Ottawa Kaite holds a Master of Public Health from the University of Toronto and has worked extensively at the systems level to address homelessness. Her past roles include working with A Way Home Ottawa on youth homelessness, serving as a system planner with the Canadian Observatory on Homelessness, and contributing as a policy analyst with Reaching Home, the federal government’s homelessness strategy. As co-chair of the Ontario Alliance to End Homelessness, Kaite is a leading advocate for housing-focused solutions, engaging all levels of government to push for meaningful, rights-based approaches. |
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| | Global Director | The Shift Leilani is the former UN Special Rapporteur on the Right to Housing and Global Director of The Shift. Her work is animated by the principle that housing is a social good, not a commodity. Leilani has helped develop global human rights standards on the right to housing, including through her topical reports on homelessness, the financialization of housing, informal settlements, rights-based housing strategies, and the first UN Guidelines for the implementation of the right to housing. Leilani Launched The Shift in 2017 with the UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights and United Cities and Local Government. |
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| | Board Chair | A Better Tent City Jeff has been a resident of Waterloo Region for over 40 years. He began working with the City of Kitchener as an urban planner in 1989, later serving as Director of Planning starting in 2002, and eventually as Chief Administrative Officer (CAO) until his retirement in 2017. Along with the late Ron Doyle, Jeff co-founded A Better Tent City and currently serves as president of its inaugural board. A Better Tent City is a tiny home community in Kitchener that provides housing for unsheltered residents in the region. It has been widely recognized as a trailblazer in community-driven, human rights-based approaches to addressing homelessness. |
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