Calls for more public, affordable housing as Nova Scotia sees crisis
Ask what affordable housing is, and some will give a traditional definition.
“Affordable housing, to me, would be where you are paying one-third of your income for rent, and nothing more, not a cent more,” said Linda Carey.
Carey lives in public housing. She says affordable housing is almost impossible to find.
“There’s nowhere, nowhere, city housing, and that’s a list, a waiting list,” she said.
Shelby D’Eon wouldn’t call her apartment affordable. The preschool teacher earns a $55,000 salary and spends $1,500 on rent each month.
“That’s almost eighty per cent of my budget,” said D’Eon. “I haven’t moved. I’ve been staying there for five years because I don’t want to move because everything is even more expensive than that.”
With demand for housing up, and supply still low, many are overspending on housing. As a result, there are calls to increase supply.
“For Nova Scotia, we need 50,000 units by 2030 in order to reach our affordability goal,” said Kevin Ndoro, of the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation.
Housing advocates say the lowest earners are often left behind and that buildings are not going up fast enough.
“We should be building public housing on the kind of scale that we put money into highways every year,” said Dalhousie Legal Aid’s Mark Culligan.
Affordable housing is an umbrella term. When governments announce they’re building new units, not all include public housing, but housing to support low-income earners.
“Trying to actually create, not deeply subsidized housing, as opposed to more affordable housing at 30 per cent of income,” said Jim Graham, with the Affordable Housing Association of Nova Scotia.
He says public housing groups across Nova Scotia have long waitlists.
“Check with any housing authority, anywhere in the province right now, I think, and they would tell you,” said Graham.
While there are cranes in the skies across the Maritime region and lots of apartments going up, some feel those units are only for the wealthy.
However, the Canadian Mortgage and Housing Corporation says increasing supply at all will increase affordability for everyone.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
DEVELOPING Man sets self on fire outside New York court where Trump trial underway
A man set himself on fire on Friday outside the New York courthouse where Donald Trump's historic hush-money trial was taking place as jury selection wrapped up, but officials said he did not appear to have been targeting Trump.
BREAKING Sask. father found guilty of withholding daughter to prevent her from getting COVID-19 vaccine
Michael Gordon Jackson, a Saskatchewan man accused of abducting his daughter to prevent her from getting a COVID-19 vaccine, has been found guilty for contravention of a custody order.
She set out to find a husband in a year. Then she matched with a guy on a dating app on the other side of the world
Scottish comedian Samantha Hannah was working on a comedy show about finding a husband when Toby Hunter came into her life. What happened next surprised them both.
Mandisa, Grammy award-winning 'American Idol' alum, dead at 47
Soulful gospel artist Mandisa, a Grammy-winning singer who got her start as a contestant on 'American Idol' in 2006, has died, according to a statement on her verified social media. She was 47.
'It could be catastrophic': Woman says natural supplement contained hidden painkiller drug
A Manitoba woman thought she found a miracle natural supplement, but said a hidden ingredient wreaked havoc on her health.
Young people 'tortured' if stolen vehicle operations fail, Montreal police tell MPs
One day after a Montreal police officer fired gunshots at a suspect in a stolen vehicle, senior officers were telling parliamentarians that organized crime groups are recruiting people as young as 15 in the city to steal cars so that they can be shipped overseas.
The Body Shop Canada explores sale as demand outpaces inventory: court filing
The Body Shop Canada is exploring a sale as it struggles to get its hands on enough inventory to keep up with "robust" sales after announcing it would file for creditor protection and close 33 stores.
Vicious attack on a dog ends with charges for northern Ont. suspect
Police in Sault Ste. Marie charged a 22-year-old man with animal cruelty following an attack on a dog Thursday morning.
On federal budget, Macklem says 'fiscal track has not changed significantly'
Bank of Canada governor Tiff Macklem says Canada's fiscal position has 'not changed significantly' following the release of the federal government's budget.