Nothing ‘natural’ about HRM’s increasing number of homeless people, said the Minister of Social Affairs

A Nova Scotia minister’s choice of words to address homelessness and housing has come under fire.

“What the minister said yesterday is unacceptable, hurtful and flat out wrong,” said Suzy Hansen, spokeswoman for the New Democratic Party.

“There is nothing ‘natural’ about the growing state of homelessness in HRM and across the county.”

Karla MacFarlane, Minister for Community Services in the Progressive Conservative majority government, was questioned on Thursday about the apparent proliferation of people living in tents in Halifax.

“I think that’s just kind of a natural evolution,” MacFarlane said. “When we look at this time of year, we always see tents increasing. I think you have a lot of people living it rough, whether they’re couch surfing or a few nights in shelters.

“I think a lot of people say I’m going to put up a tent for the summer because it’s doable and I can survive being outside.”

MacFarlane said there is a housing crisis not just in Nova Scotia, but across Canada.

Tent freedom

“We read articles all the time about this time of year when we see more tents and I think a lot of people are looking for that outlet of freedom, to be outside, just like us,” the minister said.

“We take this matter extremely seriously. We know it’s not a good situation.”

Hansen, the MLA for Halifax Needham, told the minister in charge of the homelessness record “to say what she said and not understand the lived experience of those sleeping outside with no other options is shocking and shameful.”

Hansen said the housing crisis has deepened in the two years the PC government has been in charge.

“Seniors, youth and everyone in between are concerned about finding and keeping a home they can afford,” Hansen said. have a serious problem. If not, maybe she should be unemployed.

MacFarlane said the government has invested heavily over the past year in hiring more street workers to connect with the homeless and let them know what resources are available for them.

“We don’t want anyone to live rough,” said the minister. “We’re really working as hard as we can, not just in HRM, but across the county, to make sure people who are going homeless know the different options out there.”

Counting homeless people

MacFarlane said the department has no count of people living rough in the Halifax Regional Municipality.

“What we do know is that there are about 940 people who do not have permanent housing. Of those 940, we know that many of them are in emergency shelters, some in hotels, so we don’t have the actual number of individuals who are struggling. That’s the number on the list of names.’

The named list compiled by the Affordable Housing Association of Nova Scotia in its monthly HRM statistics counted 940 active homeless people as of July 11.

“Actually not in the last year,” the minister says clearly about the HRM list of homeless people by name.

“It is very consistent, the 940 is where it is now. … It’s always been 800 and some and it went up to 900 and some, but it’s been pretty consistent around 900,” MacFarlane said of the number since she became Secretary of Community Services.

“I’m not saying this is right, don’t misinterpret my words here, I want to see that number set to zero.”

The Affordable Housing Association shows that the number was below 400 in June 2021, but had risen continuously from then, just before the August 2021 election that brought the Progressive Conservatives to power, through late 2022 and into 2023.

In June 2022, the number was 625.

“The work (the department) hasn’t been enough, but I’ll tell you what, we’ve worked as hard as we can and I’ve advocated and done my very best to make sure we keep making those significant investments,” said MacFarlane.

“As a society, more and more people are finding it more challenging and difficult to find permanent housing,” said the minister. have very complex issues mental health issues and addiction issues but again because of the challenges right now with inflation and what’s happening globally we also know there are a lot of hard working Nova Scotians who are struggling to make ends meet and a lot of individuals who don’t work permanently find housing.

Complex issue

“It’s a very complex issue.”

Housing Minister John Lohr said the government is “very aware of the extreme need for housing in the county” and is doing a number of things to meet demand, assisted by non-profit community programs and building efforts from commercial developers.

“In the county, we recognize the need for housing. We need it at all levels of the market, from very affordable to every level,” Lohr said. “The only real solution to the housing crisis is more supply. We are working in every possible way to address that.”

New Democratic Party leader Claudia Chender said the government’s approach to housing is very disappointing and it is time to take the crisis seriously.

“I spoke to Nova Scotians in this province and there is unanimity in the sense that people deserve a place to live and from the Minister of Community Services, the Minister of Housing, the Minister of Services Nova Scotia, they all act like there is a a complicated balance between the private sector and people who have no place to live, and we reject that idea,” Chender said.

She said the government has shown it can take an emergency approach to housing in the aftermath of the recent wildfires when it invested millions of dollars in modular housing that could be delivered quickly.

“Housing is a huge problem. It’s a crisis across the spectrum. We need more housing, but the government is showing that if they want to move quickly to create housing for specific groups of people, they can do it,” Chender said . “They have repeatedly chosen for two years not to act quickly to address the housing needs of Nova Scotia’s most vulnerable residents or those at risk of homelessness, who are increasingly senior citizens across the province.”