Housing Rights Advisory Committee Focuses on FIFA 2026, Homelessness, and Displacement

The Housing Rights Advisory Committee focused on homelessness, housing rights, and the city's approach to FIFA 2026, with repeated warnings that unhoused people are being displaced rather than supported. Deputants and committee members discussed reports of treatment at Union Station, a recent Ontario court ruling on encampments, the city's still-unreleased FIFA human rights plan, and whether the committee should be continued in the next term. The committee also noted a leave of absence for member Diana Chan McNiven, who is running in the Ward 4 Parkdale–High Park by-election.

Topics Discussed

• FIFA 2026, homelessness, and displacement
  Speakers repeatedly argued that preparations for FIFA and other major events risk pushing unhoused people out of public view instead of addressing homelessness. Angie Hawking said, "As FIFA approaches Toronto, the city's push to clean up the streets has meant more policing, more displacement, and more violence towards unhoused people, especially around Union Station and other FIFA hotspots." Dick Gary told the committee, "Cities preparing for global spectacles often respond to visible poverty not by solving it, but by managing it, displacing it, hiding it, renaming it." Salah described unequal treatment in public space: "I could have my Starbucks coffee and sit there for 4 hours and no one will tell me to leave. But if someone is sitting with a bag or look not clean up, so they will clean him up."

• Ontario court ruling on encampments and homelessness rights
  The committee heard about the Ontario Superior Court decision involving the Region of Waterloo and its implications for Toronto. The chair said the ruling means municipalities cannot remove people from outdoor sheltering without adequate alternatives: "Cities can't simply evict people from an encampment. It must ensure that people have another adequate place to go." The chair added that the court affirmed municipalities have "the duty to uphold the human right to housing."

• Human rights-based guidelines for future mega-events
  A new business item called for human rights-based guidelines for future large events. Joy urged the city to act before entering into event agreements: "Before entering into agreements to these events, the city should adopt trauma-informed human rights based guidelines to respond to and support people who are experiencing homelessness and residing in public spaces." Rachel Chernos Lin moved for "Undertaking a FIFA 2026 audit of the impact of the mega event on the human rights of residents of Toronto, particularly those who are experiencing homelessness up to one-year period post-event," and added that any framework should include "an accountability mechanism."

• FIFA human rights plan and city accountability
  Deputants and members questioned why Toronto still has not released a FIFA human rights plan. Diana Chan McNiven said, "It's ludicrous that FIFA is doing better than we are in this moment that they're requiring this plan and yet we do not currently have it." A councillor asked staff, "We've heard from several deputations that we don't yet have a FIFA human rights plan. Um, is there anyone that can let us know where we're at on that and when we can expect to see one?"

• Committee term, priorities, and structure
  In the chair's update, members reflected on the committee's work and the possibility of re-establishing it next term. The chair said, "As the chair of this committee, which is quickly coming to the end of its first term, I urge the city of Toronto to continue this work and to build on this momentum." Members also emphasized the role of people with lived experience in shaping policy. Lindsay said the committee should ensure "those with lived experience" have "a significant voice" in solutions to the housing crisis.

• Leave of absence and committee changes
  The committee approved a leave of absence related to Diana Chan McNiven after she registered as a candidate in the Ward 4 by-election. The item was taken up near the start of the meeting as part of a reordered agenda.

Motions

Approved: - Add new business item on human rights-based guidelines for hosting future mega-events - Add new business item for the chair's update - Add new business item for leave of absence from the Housing Rights Advisory Committee - Agenda reordering to take up the chair's update first, leave of absence second, Working Group One next, and the Toronto Underhoused and Homeless Union presentation after that - Leave of absence item for Diana Chan McNiven - Motion to report back to the June 22, 2026 meeting with a summary of the committee's 2024-2026 work and priorities for possible re-establishment next term - FIFA 2026 human rights audit motion, including consideration of impacts on people experiencing homelessness - Recommendations arising from the Toronto Underhoused and Homeless Union presentation

Deferred: - Ombudsman follow-up item to the June 22 meeting

Attendees

Members and speakers identified in the notes included:

• Elizabeth McKissack, chair
• Diana Chan McNiven
• Rachel Chernos Lin
• Josh Matlow
• Neethan Shan
• Annie
• Joy
• Lindsay
• Cheryl Casease
• Michael Brewer
• Milton Barrera
• Scott McKeen
• Sebastian Dormier
• Rachel Butler
• Salah
• Dick Gary
• Lynn Walker
• Martha Singh Jennings