Emotions run high as nearly 2,000 public housing tenants asked to move to smaller units

Some seniors whose children are long grown are being asked to leave a lifetime of memories behind in their homes in Nova Scotia’s public housing communities to make room for other families who need the extra space.

Elaine Williams, chair of the Mulgrave Park Tenants Association in Halifax’s north end, says efforts to make sure government-owned units are used to capacity are necessary, but wrenching.

“Some people you’ve never seen cry, some of our seniors cried over losing their home,” said Williams, who has lived in Mulgrave Park for 55 years. “It’s something that we didn’t expect that was going to happen.”

Asking residents to move to smaller apartments is meant to combat what the provincial government calls “overhousing,” when one or more bedrooms aren’t being used.

The agency says 1,968 households across the province have unused bedrooms — some with three or more — that are desperately needed by families. But since February of last year, only 39 have been transferred to smaller units.

With 7,683 households waiting for a place in public housing as rents soar and vacancy rates stay low, each unit is precious.

So the Nova Scotia Provincial Housing Agency has been asking singles, couples, and small families to leave larger homes and move to smaller units that fit their family size. Then families on the waitlist can move in.

“It’s not a short process,” said Pam Menchenton, the executive director of client services for the Nova Scotia Provincial Housing Agency. “We need a vacancy to occur that fits, that’s in their community but also fits their needs as well. So you can imagine that doesn’t always happen overnight.”

Menchenton said a provincial audit determined the number of clients with spare rooms. The households with the most extra bedrooms were dealt with first, receiving a letter and a phone call, then a staff visit to discuss their options.

She said the move is paid for by the agency, and staff try to keep people close to supports and friends and family. Each household gets two chances to turn down a proposed unit before they must move.

Why now?

Menchenton said there is a “longer waitlist than ever” of families needing an affordable unit. In the public housing community of Greystone in Spryfield, she said there are 295 family units, and 500 families waiting to snap one up.

“We’re in a housing crisis like we’ve never been in before,” Menchenton said. “So overhousing may have been occurring in the past but there was never really an urgent need to make those changes. But now it’s a different time.”

Though there is a clause in each lease that says people may be moved, Williams said many tenants who have lived in public housing for decades weren’t aware they’d ever have to move out.

“We realize over the past that it hasn’t been really done properly,” Williams said. “So now they’re going through making sure that the units fit the size of the family and it is hard for people.

“And even though we understand it, it still hurts because this is what we know and we know that we’re safe here.”

222 new units ‘not enough’

Menchenton said the policy dealing with “overhousing” is just one way the province is trying to maximize their 11,202 public housing units.

The agency is also working to improve its turnover time to get units ready for new tenants after someone moves out, and is considering how to convert the agency’s office space into housing.

The province announced in September that it would be building 222 new units to house 520 families. Another 25 units were announced in late February.

But Williams said this is “not enough” to combat the need.

“I see all these beautiful apartment buildings being built, and we can’t afford them,” she said. “We need more non-profit housing, and without that we’re going to have more people living in tents. And that’s not right.”