THe SHift's Resources

With support from La Fondation Emmanuelle Gattuso, The Shift has developed Hidden Housing, a new approach to increasing affordable housing supply that prioritizes the conversion, renovation, and repurposing of Canada’s vast stock of vacant and underutilized buildings as a faster, cheaper, and more sustainable alternative to new construction. Drawing on evidence that building new alone has consistently failed to deliver affordability, this briefing note makes the case for Build Canada Homes to adopt Hidden Housing as a core strategy, outlining the financial, environmental, and human rights arguments for unlocking existing built assets before pouring new concrete. The brief concludes with six concrete recommendations for how BCH can integrate Hidden Housing into its mandate, ensuring public dollars reach those most in need.

Features select slides from our presentation to Welsh Parliament in support of groups like Tai Pawb, who are advocating for a legislated right to housing in Wales.

The federal government has announced bold initiatives that signal a desire to make transformative change in housing. Chief among them is the promise to “get back in the business of building homes” through a new entity: Build Canada Homes (BCH). Envisioned as the federal vehicle for scaling affordable homebuilding, BCH’s mandate is twofold: build housing at scale, and build faster, better, and smarter. Yet here lies the paradox: these urgent goals are unlikely to be achieved through reliance on new construction.

This submission by The Shift outlines how Budget 2025 can drive a Housing Mission rooted in human rights that can make access to affordable and adequate housing for all a reality in Canada.

A resource packet for Canadian municipalities.

This guide outlines a human rights-based approach to addressing homeless encampments in Canada, highlighting how municipalities can move beyond ineffective traditional tactics toward solutions that preserve dignity and safety for vulnerable populations, while recognizing the need for greater inter-jurisdictional cooperation and resource support from higher levels of government.