New public housing coming to Nova Scotia for first time in 30 years

The Nova Scotia government has announced plans for the construction of new public housing in the province for the first time since 1993.

Housing Minister John Lohr said the project, jointly funded by the provincial and federal governments, will create 222 new rent-geared-to-income units to serve 522 families, individuals and low-income seniors in Bridgewater, Kentville, Truro, and multiple sites in Cape Breton and Halifax Regional Municipality.

"As we sit here today, two governments are coming together on solutions and a shared commitment to bring more housing to Nova Scotians," Lohr told reporters at a news conference in Halifax.

"While we didn't get here overnight, we're taking the bold action needed to increase housing supply in our province."

Building new public housing is not something the Tory government initially favoured as it looked for ways to address the province's housing crisis. But Lohr said the combination of getting federal funding for 80 new fully accessible units and challenges his department was encountering as it tried to renovate old stock, sold him on the province building new.

"My staff pointed out that this was a pretty inefficient way of doing it," he said about renovating existing housing.

"We would tie the unit up for a year. Sometimes there were secondary problems that we would get into — maybe possible asbestos sometimes, or other issues — and we didn't really result in a very good accessible unit."

The buildings will go on provincially-owned land close to existing public housing developments and be operated by the Nova Scotia Provincial Housing Agency. 

The project will cost $83 million over five years, with tenants expected to begin moving in in 2025-26. The province is putting in $58.8 million for the project, while Ottawa is kicking in $24.4 million.

Halifax MP Andy Fillmore said affordable housing stock has reached a crisis point across the country. And while affordable housing may be a provincial jurisdiction, Fillmore said tackling the housing crisis will require the help of everyone after successive governments ignored the issue for years.

"We all own a piece of it and we all have our own jurisdictional boundaries we need to observe," he told reporters.

"We are working hard to play within our lines, work with provinces to change some of those lines where we need to, to provide more capital and get more units built."

Opposition MLAs welcomed the news, but pointed to the fact that the need far outstrips what was announced Wednesday.

"We've got a housing crisis in the tri-counties," Liberal Leader Zach Churchill told reporters.