Federal Housing Advocate visits region to see progress on homelessness
Posted Sep 24, 2025 10:04:53 AM.
Last Updated Sep 24, 2025 10:28:33 AM.
The Federal Housing Advocate has stopped through Waterloo Region this week, looking to see what progress has been made regarding homelessness and encampments.
It comes following a report tied to the issues released last year, saying more work was needed nationwide to try to stem the ongoing concerns around housing costs, affordability, the drug crisis, and homelessness as a whole.
Speaking on the Mike Farwell Show, Federal Housing Advocate with the Canadian Human Rights Commission, Marie-Josée Houle, stated that she’s pleased to see the number of advocates across Waterloo Region.
“What I’ve seen here in this region is that there’s a lot of really good work done by amazing organizations and some philanthropists, people that truly care,” said Houle. “They just need to be able to bring it up to scale.”
She said that, while she’s been in the region, she’s found that the support is great to see from the local community and organizations, but the overall progress isn’t where it needs to be.
“We know what needs to be done. People, who are groups that are engaging with the people in encampments, they know what the people need, and they continue to engage with people in saying, ‘Are we getting it right?'”
According to the Canadian Human Rights Commission, the Federal Housing Advocate “is an independent, nonpartisan watchdog, empowered to drive meaningful action to address inadequate housing and homelessness in Canada.”
One key area of concern raised by Houle stems from Cambridge in particular, saying that funding access may be a present issue.
“I learned that there was no funding that went to Cambridge, so that was distressing. I think that’s a huge message to the government that the encampment response plan needs to go to even smaller communities.”
It comes right on the heels of Cambridge council voting against a motion that would have seen them look into options regarding preventing encampment evictions during severe, extreme weather across Waterloo Region.
That issue was originally raised by the Federal Housing Advocate earlier this year after concerns were brought forward regarding how the city had been treating the homeless community in those encampments, potentially evicting them during ongoing heat waves.
While some councillors were pushing for added support, the majority agreed that they would rather be focused on looking to quell the number of encampments as a whole across the city rather than progressing with protections that could make them a more lasting option for the homeless population moving forward.
