Nova Scotia’s housing crisis: How the emergency has reached a boiling point

In Part 1 of our series about homelessness in Halifax and N.S., a street navigator says he can't help people like he really wants to — by finding them an affordable place to live.

This is the first part of a three-day web series on homelessness in Nova Scotia. Check the Global Halifax website Thursday morning for the second part, which will focus on the shelter system.

During the three and a half years he’s spent as a street navigator, Eric Jonsson has noticed a growing crisis on the streets of Halifax.

“It just seems like every year, there’s more people outside than last year,” he said.

Jonsson’s job involves travelling around the city’s downtown core, seeking out people struggling with homelessness and helping them in any way he can.

But what they need most of all is housing, said Jonsson, which has become increasingly difficult to come by.

“We can go and talk to people who are living in tents and give them a sleeping bag, but really, you can’t help them because most of the time they want a place to live,” he said.

“It’s hard. It’s really hard to find a place to live.”

Jonsson has his work cut out for him. He’s one of just two street navigators in the whole municipality, with the second working in the Dartmouth area. There are an estimated 400 people sleeping rough in Halifax Regional Municipality,