No-one is happy with the property tax
Economists Michael Bradfield and James Sawler make the case for doing away with property taxes and replacing it with something more fair to everybody.
Poverty
Larry Haiven: Eliminating the assessment cap will open the door to speculators and absentee landlords
Thoughtful presentation by Larry Haiven to an all-party committee reviewing a proposal to eliminate capped property assessments in Nova Scotia. “Our fear is that, allowed to run free, tax assessment based on the vagaries of the market could seriously damage a wonderful, diverse and still-affordable neighbourhood,” said Haiven.
Kendall Worth: The long hard road of Career Seek for people on social assistance
Kendall catches up with the young woman from Beaverbank who is at Dalhousie University through the Career Seek program. Not all the changes she was hoping for actually happened so far.
Bedbugs drive senior out of his public housing apartment
Judy Haiven writes about a senior citizen who is camping out in a Halifax hotel because his public housing apartment at the Gordon B. Isnor Manor is infested with bedbugs.
Kendall Worth: “When I keep looking for an affordable place to live and not find anything, what can I do?”
Reporter Kendall Worth offers a reminder that high rents and rent increases are forcing poor people to make risky choices that they aren’t really comfortable with. In this case things seem to work out, but that isn’t always the case.
Jodi Brown: Tawaak Housing tenants are organizing to fight landlord neglect
Jodi Brown, who has been working with the Tawaak Housing tenants, reports on the early efforts to organize a tenants association and fight back against deplorsable housing conditions. There is also a video.
One in four kids: After 30 years there is hardly a dent in Nova Scotia child poverty
Since 1989 child poverty in Nova Scotia decreased by less than one percent. One in four kids lives in poverty, for kids younger than 2 years, that is one in three! Let that sink in. And numbers for African Nova Scotian and Mi’kmaw kids are much higher again.
Kendall Worth: A letter to Minister Randy Delorey with two simple ideas that will help poor people tremendously
Day surgery and the mandatory ride home is a problem for poor people, as are mental health issues. In this letter anti-poverty advocate Kendall Worth offers excellent solutions to Health minister Randy Delorey.
Jodi Brown: After five years of government promises people on income assistance end up with very little
Our Nova Scotia Government has spent over $10 million on the implementation of the welfare transformation since 2014, but the results are pretty depressing for most people on assistance. “I have one word for our government and that is criminal,” writes Jodi Brown.
Community Society to End Poverty (CSEP): Letter to Finance Minister Karen Casey
A letter from the Community Society to End Poverty to Finance minister Karen Casey with recommendations for the upcoming provincial budget to raise incomes for people on income assistance and deal with the rental crisis.