Human Rights Code in housing · Housing Rights Toolkit

Human rights, primacy, and discrimination in Ontario housing

Section 2 of the Human Rights Code guarantees equal treatment in occupancy of accommodation. The Code has primacy over other Ontario laws unless those laws expressly say otherwise. People cannot waive or contract out of Code rights.

The Residential Tenancies Act states that it prevails over conflicting Acts except the Human Rights Code. Social-housing rules that clash with the Code must give way.

Prohibited grounds in housing

Race Colour Ancestry (including Indigenous ancestry) Place of origin Ethnic origin Citizenship (including refugee status) Creed / religion Sex, pregnancy, gender identity, gender expression

Sexual orientation Age (including independent 16- and 17-year-olds) Marital status (including common-law and same-sex partners) Family status (children, caregiving) Disability (physical, mental, addictions, perceived) Receipt of public assistance (housing-specific ground)

Pathway note will appear here

The Code does not police ordinary personality conflict. It polices distinctions linked to listed grounds, including constructive (adverse-effect) discrimination.

What landlords may and may not do when choosing tenants

They may request rental history, credit references, and credit checks.

Lack of rental or credit history must not be used as a stand-alone reason to refuse — it often tracks youth, newcomers, violence survivors, and people on assistance.

Income information may be requested only together with credit and rental-history information, and must be weighed with that other information (Regulation 290/98).

They must not use “working income only,” “no ODSP,” “adult building,” or “mature couple” as screening rules.

Guarantors and deposits are constrained by the RTA and cannot be applied in a way that screens out Code groups.

Exceptions to know

Shared accommodation (Code s. 21; RTA s. 5(i)): owner or specified family lives in the building and the occupant must share a kitchen or bathroom. Code occupancy equality and the RTA generally do not apply.

Same-sex building restriction: a narrow Code exception exists for buildings restricted by sex (rarely a good idea to rely on without counsel).

Special interest organizations (s. 18): a religious, philanthropic, educational, fraternal or social organization primarily serving a Code-identified group may restrict membership / participation to that group — providing housing alone is usually not enough.