Hundreds denied rent supplement after N.S. quietly changed eligibility rules
CBC
Brian Dauphinee is being renovicted from his $637-a-month Halifax studio apartment at the end of August, and is about to anxiously wade into the city's increasingly expensive rental market.
But the 69-year-old, who lives on a pension, will do so without the help of a rent supplement. He's one of hundreds of people who have been denied financial aid in recent months under a change made to the joint provincial-federal program.
"I was holding on hope that something might come through, and it certainly didn't. So they wasted my time," Dauphinee said. "And then all of the rents in the area here are sky high, they just seemed to all of a sudden magically start to double and triple."
In late January, the province quietly changed the eligibility rules for the Canada-Nova Scotia Targeted Housing Benefit, a supplement designed to help low-income people pay for housing. In order to qualify, a person must now be spending at least 50 per cent of their pre-tax income on housing, up from 30 per cent.
Numbers provided recently to CBC News by the Department of Municipal Affairs and Housing show that since the change, 324 applicants have been denied for not meeting the new 50 per cent threshold.
The province said it is offering more rent supplements than in previous years. But the new restrictions mean some applicants who would have qualified under the old rules are now out of luck.
Housing advocates argue the new thresholds don't recognize the reality of skyrocketing rents, and that it's no longer just the lowest-income people who can't afford somewhere to live.
In April, Housing Minister John Lohr told CBC News the change was made for budgetary reasons.
"We could see that the demand for the program was exceeding what the budget would offer," Lohr said. "So, we felt the need to prioritize ... this to those most in need, and that's why that decision was made."
A spokesperson for the department said in a statement that the Houston government has put an additional $21.6 million in this fiscal year's budget toward at least 1,000 new rent supplements.
"This year the province will provide 8,000 rent supplements, which is 1,000 more than the previous year and 3,000 more than 2021," spokesperson Heather Fairbairn said.
Tara Kinch, the community support and outreach manager at Chebucto Connections in the Halifax community of Spryfield, works with low-income clients to complete and submit their rent supplement applications.
She said she has seen more people denied support since the changes, and wait-times have risen to new levels.
She said the changes mean only the lowest-income people are now eligible, but they aren't the only ones who need the help.
A suspended Moncton structural engineer faces more lawsuits alleging design flaws in buildings that require repair.
Sajjade Tugano has come a long way since he first set foot in Chibougamau, six hours north of Quebec City, in the depths of winter in November 2021.
A national mentor-based hockey organization that helps marginalized youth through the sport is paying tribute to one of its members and youngest coaches.
After months of asking the City of Saskatoon to do more to solve its homelessness crisis, advocate David Fineday took to the stand at city council Tuesday.
A community organization wants to breathe new life into a historic building in Regina.
Some Prince County residents are walking away with more answers after attending Tuesday night's public information session in Albany, P.E.I., on the Wejipek Wind Project.
After just a few months of using vape detectors in a couple of bathrooms, a B.C. high school principal says it's reduced vape use in those areas to basically zero.
Burlington MP Karina Gould gets boost from local young people after entering Liberal leadership race
A day after entering the Liberal leadership race, Burlington, Ont., MP and government House leader Karina Gould was cheered at a campaign launch party by local residents — including young people expressing hope the 37-year-old politician will represent their voices.
Anold Mulaisho was born intersex and wonders where they fit in, in the wake of U.S. President Donald Trump's executive order for the United States to recognize only two sexes, male and female.
WARNING: This story contains references to suicide.
Subway service is down on Line 1 between Sheppard West and Lawrence West due to a broken power rail, the TTC said Wednesday morning.
A long-term care home in Toronto's Yorkville neighbourhood has cleared one more hurdle to add desperately needed beds to its property, a move that's been praised by housing advocates but opposed by locals concerned about the impact on the neighbourhood.
A Charlottetown resident is calling on the P.E.I. government to do more to protect homeowners after reading about a recent oil spill very similar to one on his Montague property 20 years ago, which he says ruined him financially.
WARNING: This story includes details of abuse.
Two years after Foreign Affairs Minister Mélanie Joly declared she was taking the unprecedented step of moving to confiscate millions of dollars from a sanctioned Russian oligarch with assets in Canada, the government has not actually begun the court process to forfeit the money, let alone to hand it over to Ukrainian reconstruction — and it may never happen.
Alberta business and oilpatch leaders are returning home from Washington this week after the U.S. presidential inauguration festivities — and gritting their teeth after a roller-coaster of emotions.
Youth workers in Toronto's Jane and Finch area are flipping the script on negative stereotypes about their communities with a new fundraising campaign that offers anti-bias training in exchange for donations to bolster their programming.
In a sudden move that came late Tuesday evening, city officials rolled out cots and temporarily opened a warm building in east London as frigid temperatures continued.