It took contractors working for the Metropolitan Regional Housing Authority 36 hours to restore heat in a 6-unit building in the Greystone Drive area in Spryfield. The Housing Authority blames the high winds of the January “weather bomb” for causing the furnace problems. Problem with that response is that it wasn’t windy when the furnace died.
If your apartment is too expensive, or badly needs repairs, and moving is out of the question, then things aren’t likely to improve in the foreseeable future. Statistics Canada census data released in November 2017 shows that the number of households in core housing needs in Nova Scotia continues to go up, while the trend in the other Atlantic provinces is moving downward.
The Canada Mortage and Housing Corp. published its annual rent survey, and the news for Nova Scotia and Halifax renters isn’t very good. Rents went up, vacancy rates went down. In Halifax vacancy rates haven’t been as low since 2003.
Frequent contributor and anti-poverty activist Kendall Worth reports on the case of a woman who gets harassed by a neighbour in her apartment building and neither her landlord nor the police are willing to put a stop to it. Because she is on welfare she can’t just pack up her stuff and move. She may well end up homeless as a result, she says.
Lots of rented homes and apartments in Nova Scotia need major repairs. That’s what occupants of these homes told Statistics Canada. We have the numbers and we have the maps.
Lot of rent-poor people in Nova Scotia. 24,000 Nova Scotians, or one in five people who rent, spend more than 50 percent of their annual income on rent. New data released by Statistics Canada tells the story. Also, a neat app that lets you put it all on the map.
The state of public housing in Nova Scotia at times is terrible. There is no other way to describe it. Last week I drove to Sheet Harbour and met Brent and Donna, very nice people who deserve better than having to call and call again for somebody to deal with a backed up septic tank, or to have mould simply spray painted over. We hear these stories a lot, and we go check them out when we can.
It is terribly important that we support the few people in Nova Scotia who are on welfare and/or live in public housing who speak out publicly about the conditions they face, not only for what they have to tell us, but also for the simple act of saying it. They are examples and inspirations, what they do is crucial. Jodi Brown is one of these people, and this Weekend’s Video is about her unexpected encounter with both welfare and public housing. One day you have a job, then you get sick, next thing you have $56 grocery money for an entire month.
I couldn’t attend last week’s Nova Scotia ACORN community meeting, but the results of their tenants survey presents some interesting (and rather shocking) findings. From cold-only showers to garbage in the common areas, from too cold in winter to too hot in summer, here are the reasons why we need landlord licensing.
New contributor Lucy MacDonald knows all about homelessness and living in shelters. Community Services is actually fostering homelessness rather than solving it with is impractical rules and inadequate shelter allowances, she says.