Less than half of individual shelters N.S. bought last year for unhoused people open

CITYnews halifax / By Lyndsay Armstrong, The Canadian Press

HALIFAX — Less than half of the 200 self-contained shelters Nova Scotia bought for unhoused people are open almost a year after the plan was announced.

As of Tuesday, 80 of the insulated, 70-square-foot fibreglass shelters made by the U.S. company Pallet are ready for use.

When Nova Scotia announced on Oct. 11, 2023, it was putting $7.5 million toward Pallet shelter villages, the department said vulnerable residents would benefit from them by winter of that year, along with other supports.

A spokesperson with the Department of Community Services said Tuesday work to set up the remaining 120 shelters continues, with 85 of them destined for the Halifax region and 35 for the community of Whitney Pier in Cape Breton.

The 80 shelter units that have been erected in Halifax and Kentville, N.S., are either occupied or being moved into soon.

“Winter is quickly approaching, and we are working with service providers and municipalities to understand what supports are needed and how we can work together to keep people safe as the temperatures drop,” department spokeswoman Christina Deveau said in an email.

The Affordable Housing Association of Nova Scotia is reporting that as of last Wednesday, 1,287 people in the Halifax Regional Municipality reported they were homeless.

Nova Scotia spent $3 million last winter to set up an emergency shelter in the Halifax Forum, a multi-purpose centre with capacity for up to 100 beds, and in August the government announced it would spend $5.4 million to cover operating costs of the shelter until August 2025.

There are almost 530 shelter beds across the province, with about 400 of them in the Halifax Regional Municipality.

Meanwhile, unhoused residents staying in tents at a downtown Halifax encampment approved by the city have been told that in one month they must leave. Halifax said last week it is removing the designation effective Nov. 1 because of safety concerns surrounding snow clearing along the narrow street. As of Thursday, there were 26 tents along the grassy berm on University Avenue; the space has a recommended capacity of six tents.

Jake Fulton, a spokesperson with the Halifax Regional Municipality, said in an email Tuesday the province has indicated that by the end of the month there will be enough indoor spaces available for the number of people on University Avenue.

“Those currently sleeping rough at this location are being offered resources and supports, including transportation of people and their belongings to provincially funded indoor shelter and housing options,” Fulton said, adding that Halifax will provide people with temporary storage for belongings as needed.

When the University Avenue encampment is shut down, there will be five remaining sites that are designated by the municipality for tenting. Those are in addition to the dozens of encampments that exist around Halifax that are not designated.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 1, 2024.

Lyndsay Armstrong, The Canadian Press