Another change to N.S. rent supplement program will lead to more homelessness, says MLA

Another change to a Nova Scotia program that helps low-income people pay for housing is worrying NDP politicians, with one MLA saying the change could lead to increased homelessness. 

Susan Leblanc, MLA for Dartmouth North, said she recently found out all applicants for the Canada-Nova Scotia Targeted Housing Benefit — known as the rent supplement program — would be required to provide a lease.

Previously, tenants who didn't have a lease could prove what they pay in rent by swearing through a statutory declaration certified by a commissioner of oaths. They could then use this legal document to apply for the rent supplement. 

This is the latest in a string of changes that have made hundreds ineligible for the program. Leblanc said she worries this will disqualify even more people from the program who desperately need help paying their rent.

"I am telling you that this rent supplement is the difference between housing and homelessness," Leblanc told reporters Friday. "And if this cuts out another chunk of people who are not eligible, there will be more people on the streets this winter."

This provision was removed by the Houston government in early October and announced in a news release that also announced eligibility changes that should make more seniors eligible for the program.

The change was listed near the bottom as one of four "policy and process changes [that] will reduce fraud and increase equity."

The release said applicants must now provide proof of income and a lease to support their application for a rent supplement, and the documents will now be required within three months, whereas there was previously no time limit. 

Leblanc brought up the change in question period Friday. Housing Minister John Lohr responded by saying some applicants were receiving the rent supplement and never renting a unit. 

Lohr said Thursday in the house of assembly that almost 8,000 people receive the supplement, and the province is spending $42 million annually on the program. 

In a statement, a spokesperson for the Housing Department said 10 people had been reported for defrauding the program.

"However, there was reason to believe that it was occurring more regularly, and we had no measure to control or audit this," said spokesperson Chrissy Matheson. "It is important based on a risk assessment approach that we prevent misuse of government funds and not wait until these situations occur."

Lohr told reporters Friday that "it's got to be quite rare that someone doesn't have a lease," but the department will work with them to find "other corroborating information" if that is the case.

'Many people' do not have leases, Leblanc says

Leblanc said she doesn't believe this, and said there could be any number of reasons why "many people" don't have a copy of their lease, including because they never received one or they lost it after living in a unit for years. 

"People come into MLA offices in desperate times and they tell us the stories of how close they are to living on the streets, how much arrears they're in," she said. "I honestly do not believe that most people are taking advantage of the system and lying about it." 

Under Nova Scotia's Residential Tenancies Act, a landlord must provide their tenant with a copy of their lease, but Leblanc said some landlords refuse, make their tenants pay for a new copy, or ask them to sign a new lease at a higher rent. 

Other recent changes

In January 2023, the province quietly changed the program's eligibility rules. The definition of severe housing need was changed to only apply to those spending 50 per cent or more of their pre-tax income on housing. 

At the time, Lohr said the change was made for budgetary reasons.

Just three months after the change, the number of people waiting to find out if they were approved for the program had skyrocketed to over 1,000, up from just 55 pending applications at the end of the previous six-month period. 

Since then, CBC News learned hundreds of applicants were denied support because they didn't spend more than half their income on rent. 

Then in July 2023, a two-month subsidy that people living rough or in hotels could apply to while they searched for a rental unit was removed with no notice.

The Affordable Housing Association of Nova Scotia's count of people experiencing homelessness in Halifax  says the number of people considered actively homeless in the municipality has risen from 690 in September 2022 to 1,029 as of Oct. 17.