Centre for Urban and Community Studies Research Bulletin #11 December 2002 Housing Discrimination in Canada: What Do We Know About It? by Sylvia Novac, Joe Darden, David Hulchanski, and Anne-Marie Seguin, with the assistance of Francine Bernèche A summary of Housing Discrimination in Canada: The State of Knowledge, Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation, Ottawa, 2002. For a free copy, call the CMHC publications office, 1-800-668-2642 Housing policy should include consideration of equitable access to housing, but there is little informa- tion about housing discrimination in Canada. Research from the United States cannot be directly applied to the Canadian situation, since the U.S. has a different history of social relations and different patterns of segregation among ethno-cultural groups. This study, part of a larger review of the housing discrimination literature carried out for Canada Mort- gage and Housing Corporation, identified what research has been done on housing discrimination in Canada in order to identify gaps that should be filled and to sug- gest a research agenda that could guide future housing policy. The study took the form of a literature survey and interviews with 40 key informants. 1. What is housing discrimination? Housing discrimination consists of any behaviour, practice, or policy in the public or private sectors that directly, indirectly, or systematically causes harm through inequitable access to or use and enjoyment of housing by members of historically disadvantaged so- cial groups. Canadian law prohibits both direct discrimination and “adverse effect” discrimination. However, most Ca- nadian case law deals with discrimination in relation to employment rather than housing. Discrimination can take many forms. The most ob- vious is the denial of housing to an individual or family, but it may also take the form of charging certain people higher prices or rents for housing, applying more strin- gent or inappropriate screening criteria to some people, or treating certain residents differently from other resi- dents. As research into social equity continues, the defini- tion of discrimination has expanded, because certain types of behaviour that were once taken for granted are recognized as discriminatory. New forms of discrimina- tion are coming to light. These include statistical discrimination, and discrimination on the basis of social condition. Statistical discrimination consists of judging peo- ple, not on their individual characteristics, but according to their membership in a certain group. For example, a landlord may reject a potential tenant because that per- son comes from a group that the landlord associates with disruptive behaviour. Discrimination on the basis of poverty, low education, homelessness, or illiteracy is a growing problem, but only Quebec’s Charter of Human Rights prohibits discrimination on the basis of “social condi- tion.” Attempts to add this provision to the Canadian Charter of Human Rights or to human rights legislation in other provinces have been unsuccessful. UNIVERSITY OF TORONTO Discrimination is not the same thing as prejudice. Prejudice may or may not lead to discriminatory behav- iour and discriminatory behaviour may be caused by motives other than prejudice.