New affordable housing for women, children breaks ground on Eastern Shore

A safe haven for women and children on Nova Scotia's Eastern Shore is growing.

Souls Harbour Rescue Mission broke ground Wednesday for a new affordable, supportive housing building on the ocean, alongside the charity's current shelter that opened just a few months ago.

Anna Tilbury has been a shelter resident since the building opened in October, and said her time there has been full of love and healing.

The location is confidential to protect the safety of those living at the shelter, which is a large shared home that has room for seven people.

"We all have our moments where we share our blessings and … what we need of emotional support, which is wonderful," Tilbury said in the shelter's white and blue kitchen, a view of trees and the future building site visible through the window.

"Every day it's a blessing here. It really is."

Rising rental prices are forcing people out of their homes across Nova Scotia. As someone on partial disability assistance, Tilbury said she moved into the Souls Harbour shelter because she could not afford Halifax's current one-bedroom apartment prices.

Now, she's hoping to be one of the first people to move into the affordable housing apartment once it opens at the end of this year.

"Moving in independently — I would love that. You know, everybody loves their own space," Tilbury said.

The new apartment will have 12 units, divided up between bachelor, one bedroom and two bedrooms, that are all pet-friendly and furnished.

All include a full kitchen and living room, and there will be an on-site caretaker to help women with food, clothing and anything else they might need.

Michelle Porter, CEO of Souls Harbour, said she was surprised but thrilled when she found out the project had been chosen to receive nearly $3 million in funding from the federal Rapid Housing Initiative.

Porter said she sees the need for affordable housing in urban and rural areas first-hand, as Souls Harbour has to turn people away every day from both its women's shelter on the Eastern Shore and its men's shelter in Halifax.

"But being a little set apart from the city, I think, will make it extra a place for healing for women," Porter said. 

"There's water, there's the inlet, and we're close to all the services and amenities that anyone could need."

Besim Halef of BANC Group Developments is the project developer, and joined Porter alongside representatives from all three levels of government for the groundbreaking Wednesday.

Halef said he will be donating whatever Porter needs for the project, whether it is labour, financial help, engineering or his own time.

When he came to Canada nearly 50 years ago, Halef said he was "very close" to living on the street himself, so it's important to support the work Souls Harbour does.

"People in need, you know sometimes they get left behind. You know, they need voice and they need somebody, you know, to provide a place to stay, a shoulder to cry on," Halef said.

"It's near [and] dear to my heart."

The new apartment is expected to be finished in November, with the goal to move people in by December.

The Souls Harbour project is one of three projects being built in the Halifax Regional Municipality for the second round of rapid housing funding, with a total of $12.9 million for 43 units, according to an August 2021 municipal report.

The other projects are by the Affordable Housing Association of Nova Scotia in north Dartmouth, and Akoma Holdings Incorporated on the lands of the former Home for Coloured Children. 

Criteria for receiving the funding includes that units are targeted to those who are homeless or at risk of homelessness, and rents are not more than 30 per cent of their income.