Affordable housing in the context of "Right to housing"

Vancouver is a major city in Western Canada, located in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia. As the most populous city in the province, the 2021 Canadian census recorded 662,248 people in the city, up from 631,486 in 2016. The Metro Vancouver area had a population of 2.6 million in 2021, making it the third-largest metropolitan area in Canada. Greater Vancouver, along with the Fraser Valley, comprises the Lower Mainland with a regional population of over 3 million. Vancouver has the highest population density in Canada, with over 5,700 inhabitants per square kilometre (15,000/sq mi), and the fourth highest in North America (after New York City, San Francisco, and Mexico City).

Vancouver is one of the most ethnically and linguistically diverse cities in Canada: 49.3 percent of its residents are not native English speakers, 47.8 percent are native speakers of neither English nor French, and 54.5 percent of residents belong to visible minority groups. It has been consistently ranked one of the most liveable cities in Canada and in the world. In terms of housing affordability, Vancouver is also one of the most expensive cities in Canada and in the world. Vancouverism is the city's urban planning design philosophy.

Single-room occupancy (SRO) is a type of low-cost housing typically aimed at residents with low or minimal incomes, or single adults who like a minimalist lifestyle, who rent small, furnished single rooms with a bed, chair, and sometimes a small desk. SRO units are rented out as permanent or primary residence to individual occupants within a multi-tenant building in which tenants typically share a kitchen, and may share toilets or bathrooms. SRO units range from 7 to 13 square metres (80 to 140 sq ft). In some instances, contemporary units may have a small refrigerator, microwave, or sink.

SROs are a form of affordable housing, in some cases for formerly or otherwise homeless individuals. SRO units are the least expensive form of non-subsidized rental housing, with median rents even in New York City ranging from $450 to $705 per month in 2013. The term is primarily used in Canada and US. Since the 1970s and 1980s, there has been an increasing displacement of SRO units aimed at low-income earners in a process of gentrification, with SRO facilities being sold and turned into condominiums. Between 1955 and 2013, almost one million SRO units were eliminated in the US by regulation, conversion or demolition.

In Canada, affordable housing refers to living spaces that are financially accessible to people with a median household income. Canada ranks among the lowest of the most developed countries for housing affordability. Housing affordability is generally measured based on a shelter-cost-to-income ratio (STIR) of 30% by the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC), the national housing agency of Canada. It encompasses a continuum ranging from market-based options like affordable rental housing and affordable home ownership, to non-market alternatives such as government-subsidized housing (emergency shelters, transitional housing, and public housing).

Home construction, housing construction, or residential construction is the process of constructing a house, apartment building, or similar residential building generally referred to as a 'home' when giving consideration to the people who might now or someday reside there. Beginning with simple pre-historic shelters, home construction techniques have evolved to produce the vast multitude of living accommodations available today. Different levels of wealth and power have warranted various sizes, luxuries, and even defenses in a "home". Environmental considerations and cultural influences have created an immensely diverse collection of architectural styles, creating a wide array of possible structures for homes.

The cost of housing and access to it is often controlled by the modern realty trade, which frequently has a certain level of market force speculation. The level of economic activity in the home-construction section is reported as housing starts, though this is contrarily denominated in terms of distinct habitation units, rather than distinct construction efforts. 'Housing' is also the chosen term in the related concepts of housing tenure, affordable housing, and housing unit (aka dwelling). Four of the primary trades involved in home construction are carpenters, masons, electricians and plumbers, but there are many others as well.

Public housing, also known as social housing, is subsidized or affordable housing provided in buildings that are usually owned and managed by local government, central government, nonprofit organizations or a combination thereof. The details, terminology, definitions of poverty, and other criteria for allocation may vary within different contexts, but the right to rent such a home is generally rationed through some form of means-testing or through administrative measures of housing needs. One can regard social housing as a potential remedy for housing inequality. Within the OECD, social housing represents an average of 7% of national housing stock (2020), ranging from ~34% in the Netherlands to less than 1% in Colombia.

In the United States and Canada, public housing developments are classified as housing projects that are owned by a housing authority or a low-income (project-based voucher) property. PBV are a component of a public housing agency. PBVs, administered by state and local housing agencies, are distinct from Section 8 Project-Based Rental Assistance (PBRA), a program through which property owners' contract directly with the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) to rent units to families with low incomes.

The Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now (ACORN) is a community-based organization that advocates for low- and moderate-income families by working on neighborhood safety, voter registration, health care, affordable housing, and other social issues. They, along with a number of other community unions, are affiliated under ACORN International.

NIMBY (/ˈnɪmbi/; or, nimby), an acronym for the phrase "Not In My Back yard", is a characterization of opposition by residents to proposed real estate development and infrastructure developments in their local area, as well as support for strict land use regulations. It carries the connotation that such residents are only opposing the development because it is close to them and that they would tolerate or support it if it were built farther away. The residents are often called nimbys, and their viewpoint is called nimbyism. The opposite movement is known as YIMBY for "yes in my back yard".

Some examples of projects that have been opposed by nimbys include housing development (especially for affordable housing or trailer parks), high-speed rail lines, homeless shelters, day cares, schools, universities and colleges, music venues, bike lanes and transportation planning that promotes pedestrian safety infrastructure, solar farms, wind farms, incinerators, sewage treatment systems, fracking, and nuclear waste repositories.