The United Church of Canada approved an action-oriented response to the growing homelessness crisis in Canada and championed a national Housing Charter at its General Council meeting in Toronto in August. The main resolution asks the federal government to spend at least one per cent more of its existing total budget on housing for the homeless and those without adequate shelter, and to develop a national affordable housing policy. The Housing Charter declares that all people living in Canada should be entitled to safe, affordable housing and to basic social service or welfare income that will provide adequate, safe, affordable housing, without discrimination according to race, colour, sex, sexual orientation, ability or disability, ethnic origin, language or religion. The Charter was developed using clauses from the 1948 Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which Canada signed along with other nations. The petition to General Council noted that "Canada is now the only developed country in the world without a national affordable housing program and there are growing waiting lists for affordable housing, increasing numbers of homeless people and thousands of people who are in a precarious position of near homelessness.”