Tenants in Halifax public housing dismayed to discover little insulation in building's walls

Vimy Arms tenants say they have to choose between cold apartments, high power bills

When Darrell Aulenback had a new baseboard heater installed in his apartment in Vimy Arms on Gottingen Street in Halifax, he was shocked by what the electrician found: the exterior walls of the public housing building appeared to have no insulation.

Aulenback has been dealing with a cold apartment and high heating bills for years, and it finally made sense.

“Anybody that lives here will tell you that the heating costs are crazy,” Aulenback said. “So what I always do is I just turn one [radiator] on when it gets cold, and bundle up.”

Aulenback contacted public housing staff about the issue in 2022 and asked for insulation to be installed and to be reimbursed for some of his heating costs. But after more than a year, they still haven’t reached a resolution.

He said he’s speaking up for himself, but also for others in the building struggling to pay their bills.

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“A lot of these people have lived in Nova Scotia all their lives. A lot of them are seniors,” he said. “Some are … on disability, a couple are in wheelchairs. These people are retired, they have very little money.”

The Vimy Arms on Gottingen Street in Halifax is public housing run by the Metropolitan Regional Housing Authority. (Brian MacKay/CBC)

Proof in staff emails

Using the province’s access to information laws, Aulenback received copies of emails dating back to November 2022 in which public housing staff discussed the insulation issue.

“The client is aware of the lack of exterior wall insulation issue we are faced with throughout the building. This complaint has been an ongoing issue,” wrote the operations manager of building services.

The last email, from May 2023, discusses possible solutions, but says they may be costly.

Suzy Hansen, MLA for Halifax-Needham, has been trying to help Darrell Aulenback and other residents of Vimy Arms. (Paul Poirier/CBC)

In November, Aulenback sought help from his local MLA, Suzy Hansen. Her office sent an email to the Housing Department, but didn’t receive a reply.

“I was hoping that they were going to just say, ‘OK good … let’s come up with a solution for folks that are living there so that they can have a warmer winter,'” Hansen said. “But I’m actually surprised to see that nothing has been done yet.”

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According to senior public housing staff, the organization has known about the insulation issues for an extended period of time.

“The building was built to code at the time, which would have had the insulation on the exterior,” said Pam Menchenton, executive director of client services for the Nova Scotia Provincial Housing Agency. “So there’s not insulation in the walls of the building, but there is insulation.”

Pam Menchenton, executive director of client services for the Nova Scotia Provincial Housing Agency, said the building will receive a new, insulated roof this year and she hopes the walls will be insulated in the future. (David Laughlin/CBC)

Menchenton said though insulation exists between the exterior brick and the facade of the building, but this is “not an effective way to insulate” and the agency is looking to fix the problem.

She said the building will receive a new, insulated roof this year, and she hopes the walls will be insulated in the future.

“It’s a multi-million dollar project, so we would be looking for budget and approval and so forth. And because our entire [housing] portfolio is around the same age, we’ll be looking at where the priorities are for other buildings as well.”

‘Kind of a sin,’ says building inspector

According to property records, the Vimy Arms building was built in 1983 by the Royal Canadian Legion. In 1995 the deed was transferred to the Canada Mortgage Housing Corporation who transferred it to Nova Scotia’s Housing Department.

“It’s just kind of a sin it wasn’t dealt with originally,” said Darren Smith, owner of Halifax Home Inspections. “And then obviously we wouldn’t be here because the cure is a lot more expensive than the prevention initially would have been.”

Darren Smith said it will be costly to fix the insulation issue in Vimy Arms. (Dan Jardine/CBC)

Smith said the lack of insulation means the building isn’t energy efficient, causing apartments to be cold in the winter and hot in the summer.

There is also a risk of mould if moisture gets inside the walls.

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Smith said fixing the issue will not be an easy feat. He suggested re-insulating the whole building or installing heat pumps in every unit to bring down heating costs.

“They could actually do both, that’d be phenomenal,” Smith said. “But I don’t know who’s going to be paying for all this. But a nice insulated building with a heat pump is what we’re all looking for.”

Heating bills around $400

Another one of the building’s tenants, Timothy Hosterman, said he has been paying around $400 for power every two months as he tries to heat his apartment.

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Even with the province’s home heating rebate, he struggles to pay his bills on his income from Nova Scotia’s disability support program. So he saves up payments like the GST rebate and poverty-reduction credit to put toward his power bills in the winter.

Hosterman said his bedroom is especially cold, so he sleeps in layers and uses a heated blanket.

“Just warming myself rather than trying to heat the whole [apartment],” Hosterman said. “You’re not going to win trying to heat the apartment. It’s just money going out the door or out the window.”

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