Nova Scotia NDP makes campaign-style housing promises

Nova Scotia NDP Leader Claudia Chender roused a couple hundred supporters in a hotel ballroom in Halifax Saturday with a speech that proclaimed her party to be "on the rise" as it prepares for the next general election.

At a party policy convention, Chender said housing is the issue she hears about most on the doorstep. She laid out what she described as the "backbone" of the NDP's plan for addressing the housing crisis.

The plan included an item the NDP has long called for — rent control.

Nova Scotia has a temporary cap of five per cent on annual rental increases that will last until the end of next year. The NDP has said it wants permanent rent control tied to the consumer price index.

Chender pitched three other housing solutions:

• Help non-profits and housing co-operatives to build prefabricated and modular housing.
• Change the provincial down payment assistance program by doubling the amount from five to 10 per cent of the purchase price, up to $50,000, and extending the repayment period from 10 to 25 years.
• Create a renters' tax credit for low-income and middle-income households.

Following her speech, Chender told reporters that housing will be a major plank in the NDP platform for the next election, which has to happen no later than July 15, 2025.

Housing was an important part of the NDP platform in 2021, too, but the party came out of that election with just six seats, remaining in third place behind the Tories and Liberals. Chender said the political climate has since changed.

"This is a moment when no one disagrees that we are in a housing crisis, but we have a government that's dragging its heels in actually addressing it with the urgency it requires," she said.

The PC government has committed to building about 200 additional public housing units. In a housing strategy released last fall, it said it would help, through investment and policy, to build 40,000 new housing units by 2028.

Chender wouldn't say how many units an NDP government would build because she said the needs of the province are changing.

"What we've laid forth today, which obviously is going to continue to need more work and research, is that we are dedicated to meeting the need," she said.

Ready for a general election

Even though the next election could be more than a year away, Chender said her party is gearing up for an election to be called sooner.

Since losing government more than 10 years ago, the Nova Scotia NDP has struggled to rebuild support, especially outside Halifax. 

Chender said the party's support is growing. She said that's been evident to her in Pictou West, where she's been campaigning recently for her party's candidate in a byelection.

"We have an incredible candidate, we have a great ground game, we're really excited," she said.