09/05/2025
📰 Housing in the News: Nova Scotia public housing waitlist hits 8,200 people
➡️ Excerpts from the CBC article: The waitlist for a spot in Nova Scotia's public housing system has topped 8,200 people, an increase of more than 1,200 since last October.
The updated numbers are contained in a recent access to information package released to the Opposition NDP. In July, the party requested updated waitlist figures from the Nova Scotia Provincial Housing Agency, which oversees the province's approximately 11,000 public housing units.
The largest demand is in the metro district, with 3,545 people on the waitlist. The western district had 1,780 people in line for a unit, while there were 1,677 and 1,265 people on the waitlists for the northern and Cape Breton districts, respectively.
The majority of people in each of the four districts were waiting for a one-bedroom unit.
Information in the disclosure package to the NDP also showed that 47 per cent of people on the waitlist were seniors. The Nova Scotia Provincial Housing Agency considers anyone 58 or older as a senior.
In August of 2023, the figure stood at 7,709 people, before falling to 7,020 last October.
CBC News previously reported that people can wait on average two years before getting a public housing unit.
Chender said those programs and announcements are good steps, but the thousands of people on the public housing waitlist and others need more immediate action.
At the top of Chender's list of things the government could do to help now is closing the fixed-term lease loophole, which allows landlords to avoid the province's five per cent cap on rent increases if a unit is being rented to a new tenant.
"That leads to a situation where it's as expensive to live and commute in HRM right now as it is to live and commute in Toronto," said Chender, referring to recent Statistics Canada data.
The government has promised 464 new units and 51 modular homes — but full details are still unknown.
