Nova Scotia’s five-year housing plan put under the microscope

Nova Scotia says its five-year housing plan is delivering results.

More homes and housing units are being built in Halifax but affordability remains a major challenge and is putting Nova Scotia’s five-year housing plan to test.

Chris Morrissey, the deputy minister for growth and development, told an economic standing committee on Wednesday the plan is meeting its targets.

“Rent increases are starting to stabilize or come down, which is a positive signal,” said Morrissey, who pointed to other positive signs like the reported 128 per cent increase in housing starts and the improving vacancy rate.

But housing experts and advocates suggest those gains haven’t translated into more affordable housing options in Nova Scotia.

While more high-end rentals are coming online, the vacancy rate for lower-cost apartments remains critically low, keeping pressure on the rents and making them more expensive.

“Right now we’re starting to see that top end (of apartments) edge across that three per cent (vacancy rate) but below that, in the cheaper half (of apartments) we’re still below one per cent (vacancy rate),” said Neil Lovitt, vice president of planning and economic intelligence with Turner and Drake.

While the province enters year three of its five-year housing plan, all sides agree there’s a lot more work to do to the finish line.

The Affordable Housing Association Nova Scotia (AHANS) says while the province is making inroads, it’s still not building enough public and affordable housing.

“I think we have to pause and say, how much worse would the numbers be if the investments that have been made weren’t made?” said Michael Kabalen, executive director with AHANS.

Kabalen says only three per cent of the housing stock in Nova Scotia is public housing and that’s not nearly enough.

There are 12,000 public units and more than 8,000 people on the provincial public housing wait list.

“To protect Nova Scotians from another housing crisis, as we get through this one, we need to invest in community housing at scale,” said Kabalen.

The province has maintained that the solution to the housing crisis is building more supply but critics argue it’s about building the right kind of homes to meet the needs.

The province says developers and the private sector will respond and adjust to the market needs.

“There’s not much sense in building those apartments or condos at the higher level if nobody’s going to get into them,” said Morrissey. “That would be a supply and demand shift that’s going to take time.”

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