By Keith Doucette
The up to date numbers are contained in paperwork launched to the NDP by a freedom of knowledge request by the Nova Scotia Provincial Housing Company.
The figures present a complete of 8,267 folks have been ready for public housing throughout the province as of June 27.
In an interview, NDP Chief Claudia Chender mentioned the rise reveals that many individuals have run out of choices as a result of they will’t afford to cope with rising lease.
“I feel housing has simply grow to be out of attain for an enormous swath of Nova Scotians,” mentioned Chender. “So now we now have a state of affairs the place increasingly more individuals are turning to issues like the general public housing wait checklist.”
Demand is biggest in Halifax the place 3,545 folks have signed up for public housing within the province’s largest metropolis, with 2,174 ready for a one-bedroom unit alone. The province’s western area is subsequent with 1,780 adopted by the northern area with 1,677 and Cape Breton the place a complete of 1,265 individuals are on the checklist.
The province has greater than 11,000 public housing models and officers have mentioned the typical wait time to get a unit as of final fall was about 1.7 years.
In February, the province introduced that it will double the variety of new public housing models in its capital plan for the 2025-26 fiscal 12 months.
Development and Improvement Minister Colton LeBlanc mentioned the plan included 242 new public housing models at a complete value of $136.4 million over a number of years. That was along with the 222 housing models and 51 modular houses that have been introduced over the earlier 18 months.
Chender mentioned extra must be executed instantly to guard renters. She additionally mentioned the province wants to shut lease loopholes and impose lease management to make flats extra inexpensive.
Nova Scotia has a 5 per cent cap on lease will increase that has been prolonged till the tip of 2027, though Chender mentioned the cap is weak as a result of it doesn’t forestall landlords who use fixed-term leases from jacking rents for brand new tenants as soon as a earlier lease expires.
“We want a system of lease management that works for tenants and for landlords to make it possible for rents are stabilized and to make it possible for folks can keep in a unit greater than a 12 months at a time and that (lease) will increase are predictable and inexpensive,” she mentioned.
Final October, a legislature committee was instructed that 7,020 folks have been on the general public housing wait-list with about half that quantity being seniors. The paperwork lately launched to the NDP positioned the variety of senior candidates on the checklist aged 58 or above at 47%.
“Our seniors more and more can’t afford to dwell out their retirement in dignity and that’s an actual drawback,” mentioned Chender.
The Nova Scotia Provincial Housing Company was not instantly accessible for touch upon Thursday.
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Final modified: September 4, 2025
