FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

June 17th, 2021

KJIPUKTUK (HALIFAX, NS)- Today the  Nova Scotia Action Coalition for Community Wellbeing (NSACCW) is launching a new campaign calling on Nova Scotians to sign an open letter to the Premier and the Minister of Infrastructure and Housing. The digital campaign HousingisHealth.ca  states that the Affordable Housing Commissions report lacks a rounded analysis and an accompanying action plan to create real, long-term change for all Nova Scotians, particularly those in greatest housing need. The open letter calls on the Premier and the Minister of Infrastructure to accept that housing is a human right, that housing is health and urges them to implement all 95 recommendations contained within the Housing for All Working Group’s paper, Keys to a housing secure future for all Nova Scotians.

Colleen Cameron from the Antigonish Anti-Poverty Coalition states; “The effects of housing insecurity carry on over a lifetime and into future generations, touching every aspect of our society and costing billions of dollars in preventable expenditures and lost income. Access to good quality, safe, environmentally sustainable, affordable housing is a human right and the foundation of community wellbeing. Ensuring this access not only makes common (economic) sense, it is the right and just thing to do.

Alec Stratford the Executive Director and Registrar for the Nova Scotia College of Social Workers states that “The Affordable Housing Commissions’ recommendations lack a crucial analysis of the risks of financialization on the affordable housing market, a lack of protection for tenants, and missed the opportunity to address low income and social assistance rates and does not name the long-term investments needed to ensure housing for all.” 

Mark Culligan, a Community Legal Worker with Dalhousie Legal Aid Service, states “The Province of Nova Scotia has been passing the buck on affordable housing for 30 years. Sky high rents are uprooting whole communities and forcing vulnerable tenants to put up with unsafe and unsanitary conditions. We need a commitment from the Province now to start building 33,000 new social housing units now.”

“The Nova Scotia government must invest $531 million each year for the next 10 years to ensure that these units can be built or acquired and maintained. Housing is not just about supply, the government must also commit an average of an additional $161 million per year to operating spending over those 10 years and must also ensure Nova Scotians have adequate community-based support services based on need, to ensure they can live a quality life” states Stratford.

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For more information contact Alec Stratford, Alec.Stratford@NSCSW.org (902)410-2420

About us: NSACCW consists of community members dedicated to working strategically and collaboratively towards community well-being and a better quality of life for everyone.