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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Premier Tim Houston. Photo Communications Nova Scotia

Changes are coming this spring to the new non-resident property tax.

The two percent tax on any property owned by people who don’t call Nova Scotia their full-time home was introduced by the provincial government as part of the budget during the spring sitting of the legislature.

At the time, Premier Tim Houston said the tax will be used to address the housing crisis in Nova Scotia.

In a release detailing the proposed changes Houston says, “We love our seasonal residents, and we will continue to show them our Nova Scotian hospitality and welcome them with open arms, but my main concern is for the people who are or want to live here year-round but can’t afford a place to live,” said Premier Houston. “We are positioned to grow in every region, but we need housing. This is one way our government is addressing the housing crisis and these changes respond to concerns we have heard from Nova Scotians.”

Opposition MLAs have voiced concerns the money raised from the tax will be going into the province’s general revenues and not into a dedicated envelope directed at increasing housing availability.

In response, government says they intend to spend more to address the housing crisis than will be received in revenue from the non-resident property tax.

Critics says the tax unfairly targets people with family cottages and members of the military.

Under the changes being introduced this spring, active Canadian Armed Forces personnel will be exempt from paying the non-resident property tax and rates for other non-residents will range based on the assessed value of their property.

The first $150,000 of the assessment will be exempt, 0.5 percent will be charged on properties valued between $150,000 and $250,000 and those over $250,000 will be taxed the full two percent.

All vacant residential land owned by non-residents will be taxed at two per cent regardless of the assessed value.

And any property sold to a non-resident will be charged the five percent deed transfer tax, which was also introduced this spring.

Premier Tim Houston announced the changes May 3, during the State of the Province address.

The province says the changes will help military families and provide relief for owners of small cottages while clarifying the tax for vacant residential land owned by non-residents.

Reported by Ed Halverson 
E-mail: edhalversonnews@gmail.com
Twitter: @edwardhalverson

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Nova Scotia Vice President Trevor LaPlante, Queens Mayor Darlene Norman and Owner Moe Nashman officially open the Liverpool call centre, April 4, 2022. Photo Ed Halverson

One of the largest private sector employers in Queens County is asking where his employees will find a place to live.

President and owner of Global Empire Corporation Moe Nashman made the comments at an event celebrating the grand opening of their call centre on White Point Road in Liverpool, Monday.

The call centre employs 120 people and Nashman says he would love to double that number.

“There’s a lot of people that want to work and for me to bring them from out of town into town, I can offer them employment and I know Sobeys and all the other grocery stores can offer them food, we just need to know where they live,” said Nashman. “If I could offer them housing, I could fill this place in five minutes.”

Global Empire already has call centres in Orlando, Florida and Boise, Idaho.

Liverpool is the company’s first call centre in Canada.

As he provided a tour of the refurbished facility, Nashman pointed to the rows of cubicles that filled half a large, open workspace.

Global Empire call centre cubicles. Photo Ed Halverson

He says the company has already ordered the furniture and equipment to fill the rest of the space.

“I would like to start hiring by the end of the year for the second half, but I do need to figure out the accommodation/housing for employees,” said Nashman.

Most of the call centre employees live within the Region of Queens but roughly 20 commute from outside the municipality with some travelling as much as an hour and a half each way.

Nashman is hoping to speak with provincial officials to learn what can be done to make housing more available.

“In five minutes, I could load an airplane full of people that want to come to Nova Scotia. Where they [are] going to live, I have no idea and that’s the biggest problem,” said Nashman.

He says an influx of a couple of hundred people to the area would benefit the region and the province as a whole.

As the tour concluded, Nashman added the company is still looking to hire another 10 people this round and is accepting applications.

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Region of Queens mayor Darlene Norman. Photo Ed Halverson

The mayor of Region of Queens is cautiously optimistic about the province’s plans to tackle the housing crisis.

Darlene Norman says there are many issues to address, and the devil is in the details.

“Well, what’s good in it is they’re actually taking action. How good that action will be, who knows?” said Norman.

Last week, Premier Tim Houston and Municipal Affairs Minister John Lohr announced changes to the Residential Tenancies Act, new powers for municipalities and a package of supports aimed at creating more available housing.

The province is spending $35 million to support 1,100 new affordable housing units across Nova Scotia and immediately providing 425 new rent supplements.

Norman isn’t confident many of those new spaces will be made available outside Halifax.

“I guess it’s a step, but they really need to look; we need more senior housing, definitely, [there’s] a long-term waitlist for those,” said Norman. “We need more low-income housing through community services, we need more of those, and we just need more long-term affordable housing in rural Nova Scotia.”

Norman is also concerned about government’s decision to extend the rent cap until the end of 2023.

During the pandemic, the previous liberal government capped annual rent increases at two percent per year.

Norman understands the need to keep people in their homes but worries extending the cap another two years will put landlords in a difficult spot.

“I’m uncertain if I would want to be the owner of rental properties, especially rental properties of places that might include fuel or other things,” said Norman. “When you look at the escalation of, just a thing of paint or a new door or a new window. I think what this will do is highly decrease the apartment owner’s willingness to do any repairs whatsoever.”

Norman says she hates the thought that anyone is homeless in the Region and thinks it’s time the municipality formed partnerships to tackle the issue head-on.

“So what do we do?” asked Norman. “Do we all bound together as municipalities down here on the South Shore and sit and think, what are we going to do and take our actions to the province? Do we need to start coming up with our solutions down here? I think maybe we do.”

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Premier Tim Houston announces efforts to combat the housing crisis. Photo Ed Halverson

Nova Scotia will maintain rental control until the end of 2023.

Housing advocates and opposition MLAs have been calling on the new government to extend rent control measures put in place during the state of emergency.

Premier Tim Houston announced Wednesday the measures will continue to limit rent increases to two percent per year beyond the state of emergency as part of an effort to address the lack of available housing.

Up to this point, the premier has not supported rent control but says it is necessary as a short-term solution.

“There’s been a lot of talk about rent control,” said Houston. “The long-term solution to the housing crisis does not rest in rent control. It’s been tried and it simply does not work, long-term. The only answer is more supply to meet the market demands.”

Government also announced $35 million in funding for 1,100 new affordable housing units.

The units will be based across Nova Scotia with 425 new rent supplements coming available now.

Those will be added to the 4,000 supplements already in place, each with an average amount of $327 per month.

Two months into their mandate, Houston says his government is trying to correct course on a number of issues facing the province.

“We’re on a train in healthcare and housing that’s going in a negative way. We as a government have to stop that negative momentum and then turn it the other way, in a positive way. These things take time,” said Houston.

Changes were also announced to the Residential Tenancies Act to provide protection for tenants against “reno-victions”.

Until now landlords weren’t required to provide any advance notice to a tenant who was to be evicted for renovations.

The updated legislation calls for landlords to provide three months notice to tenants in that situation.

Landlords may also have to provide up to three months rent to the tenant as composition for eviction.

The revised Act also says landlords may not charge different rental amount for tenants on month to-month or yearly leases.

Changes will come into effect once the bill has passed through the house and received royal assent.

Houston says his government is determined to be accountable to Nova Scotians and will tackle the issues facing the province head on.

“No more of government looking the other way. It’s time to act and that’s what we’re doing here today,” said Houston. “It’s a first step. It’s a big step with many parts but still only the first step.”

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