Municipal Affairs and Housing Minister John Lohr, left, and Halifax MP Andy Fillmore announce $83 million to create 222 new public housing units at One Government Place, Halifax, September 27. Photo Communications Nova Scotia

Nova Scotia is building the first public housing in the province in decades.

Municipal Affairs and Housing Minister John Lohr and Member of Parliament for Halifax, Andy Fillmore, announced Wednesday, $83 million will be used to build 222 new public housing units, 80 of which will be fully barrier-free.

These developments are expected to benefit 522 families, individuals, and low-income seniors across both rural and urban communities in Nova Scotia.

The new housing will be built on provincially owned land close to existing public housing developments in several locations, including Bridgewater, Kentville, Truro, Cape Breton (multiple locations), and the Halifax Regional Municipality (multiple locations).

The buildings will be designed to be energy-efficient, sustainable, and affordable for residents. Importantly, rents for these units will be tied to the resident’s ability to pay. Gearing the rent towards income, will make the units accessible to individuals and families with varying financial means. The new units will be operated and managed by the Nova Scotia Provincial Housing Agency.

The funding breakdown for the project includes $58.8 million from the provincial government and an additional $24.4 million from the federal government.

The PC government has long held government shouldn’t be involved in public housing, instead they should provide the means for private developers to create affordable units.

Minister John Lohr said government began shifting their thinking over the summer.“If you look back to my more recent quotes I was softening that position because I realized that this was something that we had been working on as a department over the summer to look at this possibility. And I can tell you that the, what did change, was we do have an agreement and the money from CMHC, the federal partner, $24 million to build 80 accessible barrier free units,” said Lohr. “The way that we were doing that was we were going into 40-year-old buildings and renovating them and my staff pointed out that this was a pretty inefficient way of doing it”

Lohr says the renovated older unit would be tied up for a year during construction and in the end didn’t always result in the best accessible living space.

It was at that point the department decided to build 80 new accessible units and fund the creation of the 222 affordable spaces.

Andy Fillmore, Member of Parliament for Halifax, echoed these sentiments, emphasizing the importance of federal-provincial collaboration. He says the solution to the housing crisis won’t come from one level of government or from one organization.

“It has to come from every single person who is involved in every single organization and order of government who is involved in in housing. We all own a piece of it and we all have our own jurisdictional boundaries we need to observe,” said Fillmore. “We are working hard to play within our lines, work with provinces to change some of those lines where we need to, to provide more capital and get more units built”

Nova Scotia NDP Leader Claudia Chender was in Bridgewater discussing affordable housing prior to this announcement.

She was direct when asked what she hoped to hear from the province and federal government.

“I would expect to see the creation of a significant number of truly affordable housing units across Nova Scotia. That’s what I’m looking for,” said Chender. “And I would further expect that the province comes to the table with significant investment of their own to make that happen because so far the vast majority of the affordable housing units that have been built in Nova Scotia in the past five years have been built with federal dollars and I think it’s time for the province to also take the role that really, they have by legislation and in our constitution”

Chender says the new units are a start but fall far short of meeting the demand for affordable housing across Nova Scotia.

Minister Lohr says construction of the first new units is set to begin in spring 2024 with a goal to have people moving in during fiscal 2024/25.

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Mount Hope Development Plan Map. Photo Nova Scotia Government

The province has announced more initiatives aimed at increasing the amount affordable housing in Nova Scotia.

The federal and provincial governments announced over $916,000 through the Community Housing Capacity Program.

According to a release from the province, the grants will fund governance and operations reviews, growth and development plans, create community land trusts, and other capacity building needs.

Minister of Municipal Affairs and Housing John Lohr says one of the ways the Community Housing Capacity Program can be used by community groups is to develop a co-op approach to housing.

“They know their communities best and we’re optimistic that this seed money will provide for more projects in the future,” said Lohr.

The minister was also in Dartmouth Monday to announce the Nova Scotia government will spend $21.8 million in a forgivable loan to subsidize 373 residences in a new 875 home development.

The agreement between the province and Clayton Developments stipulates the units must remain affordable for 20 years.

Rents in the new development could be as low as $605 per month for a one-bedroom apartment, or $788 a month for a two-bedroom, based on current Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation data.

This project uses the last of the $35 million committed in the Quick Start program to create 1,100 new affordable housing units.

But Lohr says the province isn’t finished yet.

“This Mount Hope was always part of the plan for the $35 million Quick Start program. There will be more affordable housing announcements to come.”

Lohr stopped short of committing the government to building more public housing units, indicating they prefer to find development partners

“No government has added to the public housing stock in 30 years. We’re responding to the crisis,” said Lohr. “We believe that this is a very efficient use of what resources we have and we’re very pleased to be doing it this way.”

The new units are expected to be ready for occupants by fall of 2023.

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