25 new public housing units to be built from wildfire relief funds

Another 25 public housing units are being built across the province using relief funding from the wildfires last summer, part of the largest investment in public housing in Nova Scotia in more than a generation.

The single and multi-unit modular homes will provide housing for as many as 88 people, Nova Scotia Minister of Municipal Affairs and Housing John Lohr and Halifax MP Andy Fillmore announced at a joint news conference on Friday.

"Our government is investing and acting quickly to reduce the public housing waitlist in order to provide homes for as many people as possible," Lohr told reporters.

The newly announced units are being built by Kent Homes, using $8.1 million in funding from the province's wildfire housing support program.

They will be installed by the end of March on provincially owned land or in private mobile home parks owned by Killam Properties and TBO Developments in Amherst, Antigonish, Barrington, Glace Bay, Port Hawkesbury, Ingonish, Westville, Clyde River and Springhill, the province said in a news release.

Residents will be chosen from the priority waitlist for public housing first. It includes people fleeing domestic violence, experiencing homelessness or who require housing that's close to life-sustaining supports. There were 179 households on the list as of early December, while the non-priority waitlist for public housing stood at 7,683 households.

As of last August, only a handful of households had applied to the province for the modular homes that were set aside for those displaced by the wildfires.

Sites of Halifax developments unveiled

Lohr and Fillmore also unveiled details of the previously announced public housing for Halifax Regional Municipality. Around 150 units will be built at sites on Gottingen Street in Halifax and Old Beaver Bank Road in Lower Sackville.

The units on Gottingen Street will be housed in a six-storey building that offers one-bedroom, two-bedroom and three-bedroom apartments. Those in Lower Sackville will be divided between a two-storey and a five-storey building that offer a similar mix of layouts.

Details on the other locations will be announced soon, Lohr said.

Trish McCourt, the executive director of the Nova Scotia Non-Profit Housing Association, said she's pleased to see the investment, but hopes to see rural areas included in the future announcements about public housing.

"It's been really hard to see some of the solutions come available, only really be focused on urban centres," she said.

"There's a lot of things that need to happen in order for rural communities to really provide the support that their residents need. But housing is always the most important thing. You know, if people don't have safe and adequate shelter, they aren't able to do anything."

'Not good enough,' NDP MLA says

In total, the planned units will provide housing for more than 600 people when the project is complete in 2027-2028.

But with so many people waiting for affordable housing, New Democrat MLA Suzy Hansen said the units announced to date are "not good enough."

"It's pretty dire. People are very disheartened because they can't find housing and they've been on the list for a long time. I've received calls that people have been on the waitlist for two years," she said.

"We know that this is a housing crisis. It's not a priority for this government."

Liberal MLA Braedon Clark echoed that sentiment.

"Unfortunately, more and more people are going to continue to fall through the cracks. And that's why we're pushing for more investment" in both public and non-profit housing, he said.