N.S. to spend $1 billion on 40K houses

The Nova Scotia government announced a billion-dollar investment in 40,000 housing units as part of a new plan on Monday.

The province says its five-year housing plan – called Our Homes, Action for Housing – will inject an expected $1 billion into the housing sector.

"I actually believe we will exceed this number and 100% of it will be provincial," said John Lohr, minister of Municipal Affairs. "I believe we will exceed it."

According to a report by Turner Drake & Partners, the current construction rate in Nova Scotia, which puts roughly 6,000 housing units on the market every year, will create a shortage of 41,200 units by 2027-2028.

The new plan aims to build 42,200 housing units by 2028.

"We hear the supply chain issues are slowly starting to be resolved," Lohr said. "Clearly, we have immense labour issues.To really solve this housing crisis we need to solve the skill trade crisis as well. We are very aware of that."

The opposition said the plan doesn't include anything that hasn't already been announced.

"It lacks any type of definition, it lacks an actual affordability marker to tell us exactly what that’s going to look like," said NDP MLA Suzy Hansen. "It doesn’t give us any indication of how many more public housing units may be built. It’s really vague."

The province says the new plan was informed by an assessment report that received feedback from 21,000 Nova Scotians.

Lohr said the plan, if successful, could return housing prices to 2016 levels and meet growth projections.

For more Nova Scotia news visit our dedicated provincial page.