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By Michael MacDonald
Nova Scotia has changed the rules that apply to those paying a set amount for housing in public. The government claims this is done for fairness and consistency.
John Lohr, the Housing Minister, announced the change on Thursday. He said that, over the next 4 years, 1 445 tenants of public housing — or about 13 percent — would pay rent according to their income. This could mean they will be paying less, more, or the same as they do now.
Lohr stated that the remaining 87% already pay rent according to their income. This model is used across Canada by housing authorities. The rent paid by these tenants is no higher than 30% of the household income, as determined by Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation.
Pamela Menchenton is the director of Client Services at Nova Scotia Provincial Housing Agency. She said that fixed-rent contracts are remnants from 30 year old programs. Fixed rents are $400-$680 per month.
Menchenton said at a press conference that there was no rhyme or reason behind the situation. These are old rent models, which we have implemented because of programs that were handed down to us by the federal government …. We also used fixed rent rates in the 90s to fill vacant units.
Nova Scotia’s 17500 tenants of public housing — of whom 70% are seniors — earn on average $22,000 per year. The authority knows of 15-20 tenants who earn more than $100,000 per year in public housing.
Menchenton said that the waiting list for public housing is about 7,300.
We have tenants who pay 30% of their rent, but some of them are in the exact same neighborhood, or even the same building. “We want to be fair.”
She said that after four years, the rent of 75% of tenants with fixed rents will increase on average by $96 per month, while rents for remaining tenants are expected to decrease.
Government officials confirmed the province is expected to collect an additional $400,000 in rent, but that amount will be offset by the additional $3 million spent on covering heating expenses for those who move to the rent-geared-to-income system — a standard feature of that model.
Changes will begin to be implemented in phases starting on Nov. 13
Lohr stated in a press release that “we know this will be a difficult adjustment for the tenants.” We are making significant efforts to modernize and expand the program of public housing to meet the changing needs and economic climate.
Rents for tenants with high incomes increase five percent per year in the first three. Rent will rise to the cap of 30% gross income per person for singles and 25% gross income per family in the fourth year.
Rent models will remain the same for people receiving income support. Rent rates will be based on how many dependents are in the household.
Nova Scotia Provincial Housing Agency also introduces new rules for leases that require tenants to declare their income each year in order to be eligible to live in public housing.
These changes were based on the recommendations of the auditor general’s report from 2022, which found outdated lease policies and inconsistent eligibility reviews.
The first publication of this report was on June 20, 2024.