Liberals, NDP to blame for Nova Scotia housing crisis, says Tory Leader Houston
HALIFAX — Previous Liberal and NDP governments are to blame for Nova Scotia's housing crisis, Progressive Conservative Leader Tim Houston said Wednesday on the campaign trail, boasting that his party's plan to build more homes is bearing fruit.
At a Halifax warehouse the Tories turned into their campaign headquarters, Houston, who is running for a second term as premier, said his government has supported thousands of new housing builds.
“We’re building more, we’re building faster … we have a plan that is working,” he told reporters, as housing affordability has become one of the main themes of the Nov. 26 election.
Nova Scotia is in a housing crisis because previous governments have failed to build enough homes, he said. “I wish these units were built five years ago, 10 years ago, 12 years ago. But they weren’t and we’re trying to catch up.”
Before Houston's Tories took office in 2021, Nova Scotia had been governed by a series of Liberal and NDP governments; the last time the Progressive Conservatives were in power was in 2009.
Prior to last year, however, the province had not built new public housing since the 1990s.
Houston says his government’s plan to support the creation of 41,200 new housing units by 2028 is working. The government is already more than halfway there, he said, with more than 26,000 new starts in progress.
When asked about support for renters who are on fixed-term leases, the Tory leader would not commit to making changes to the existing rental system, which allows landlords to circumvent the five per cent rent cap by leasing for fixed terms.
“Some landlords, big and small, have articulated there is a need for (fixed-term leases),” Houston said, giving the example of a landlord who works in transition housing where fixed-term leases are used to manage temporary living situations.
“Clearly there are abuses of fixed-term leases in some cases. We’ll look for ways that we can support and catch those who are abusing them.”
A Narrative Research poll released Wednesday had Houston's Tories in the lead with 44 per cent support. The NDP were in second place with 28 per cent, and the Liberals in third with 24 per cent. The firm used a probability sample of 800 adult Nova Scotians, surveyed between Nov. 4 and 17. The poll has a margin or error of 3.5 percentage points, 95 times out of 100.
Meanwhile, Nova Scotia Liberal Leader Zach Churchill said Wednesday that if his party is elected to govern next week, it would develop a comprehensive housing strategy for seniors.
The proposed strategy, part of the Liberals' previously announced platform, calls for developing small, walkable communities that offer "wellness supports" for seniors. The platform also says a Liberal government would work with non-profit agencies to ensure there is affordable housing available for seniors.