Opposition says province falling short on affordable housing

CITYnews halifax / By Chris Halef

Nova Scotia’s Official Opposition says the Progressive Conservative government continues to fall short in addressing the province’s lack of affordable housing.

NDP MLA Suzy Hansen released a statement Tuesday saying the party remains deeply concerned about the shortage of affordable homes.

The NDP cited data from the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation, which says Nova Scotia needs 12,000 new affordable housing units each year.

Hansen said the Houston government isn’t meeting even half that number, adding that some positive announcements sprinkled across the province won’t fix Nova Scotia’s worsening housing crisis.

“If the government is going to get serious about tackling the housing crisis, they need to act with more urgency,” Hansen said. “That starts with having a minister of housing whose entire job is tackling the lack of apartments and homes that Nova Scotians can actually afford. Instead of making it easier to evict tenants, the government needs to protect renters by limiting the use of fixed-term leases and creating residential tenancy enforcement.”

Her comments come after the province announced Monday that the non-profit group Rooted is accepting applications for tenants at a new affordable housing project in Dartmouth.

Rooted is completing construction on an 18-unit complex in Cole Harbour that will include nine affordable units. It is also preserving another 84 affordable units with the purchase of two buildings on Gaston Road in Dartmouth. The province helped fund both projects.