MEDIA RELEASE- JUNE 17TH, 2021
KJIPUKTUK (HALIFAX, NS)- Today the Nova Scotia Action Coalition for Community Wellbeing (NSACCW) is launching a new campaign calling on Nova Scotians to sign an open letter to the Premier and the Minister of Infrastructure and Housing. The digital campaign HousingisHealth.ca states that the Affordable Housing Commissions report lacks a rounded analysis and accompanying action plan to create real, long-term change for all Nova Scotians, particularly those in greatest housing need. The open letter calls on the Premier and the Minister of Infrastructure to accept that housing is a human right and that housing is health and urges them accept the Housing for All Working Group’s paper, Keys to a housing secure future for all Nova Scotians and to implement all 95 recommendations.
Colleen Cameron from the Antigonish Anti-Poverty Coalition states; “The effects of housing insecurity carry on over a lifetime and into future generations, touching every aspect of our society and costing billions of dollars in preventable expenditures and lost income. Access to good quality, safe, environmentally sustainable, affordable housing is a human right and the foundation of community wellbeing. Ensuring this access not only makes common (economic) sense, but it is also the right and just thing to do.”
Alec Stratford the Executive Director and Registrar for the Nova Scotia College of Social Workers states that “The Affordable Housing Commissions’ recommendations lack a crucial analysis of the risks of financialization on the affordable housing market, a lack of recommendations regarding protection for tenants, and missed the opportunity to address low income and social assistance rates and does not name the long-term investments needed to ensure housing for all.”
Mark Culligan a Community Legal Worker with Dalhousie Legal Aid Service agrees “The Province of Nova Scotia has been passing the buck on affordable housing for 30 years. Nova Scotia needs to start building 33,000 new social housing units now.”
“The Nova Scotia government must invest $531 million each year for the next 10 years to ensure that these units can be built or acquired and maintained. Housing is not just about supply; the government must also commit an average of an additional $161 million per year to operating spending over those 10 years to ensure that Nova Scotians have adequate community-based support services based on need, so they can live a quality life.” states Stratford.
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For more information contact Alec Stratford, Alec.Stratford@NSCSW.org (902)410-2420
About us: NSACCW consists of community members dedicated to working strategically and collaboratively towards community well-being and a better quality of life for everyone.
