Dear Premier Houston,
We the undersigned are expressing the need for immediate action on affordable and public housing in Nova Scotia. It is our deep concern that the Affordable Housing Commission’s report lacks a rounded analysis and accompanying action plan that will create real, long-term change for all Nova Scotians, particularly those in greatest housing need. The Affordable Housing Commission’s recommendations lack a crucial analysis of the risks of financialization on the affordable housing market, a lack of protection for tenants (including permanent rent control), and missed the opportunity to address low income and social assistance rates, and does not state the long-term investments needed to ensure housing for all.
We believe that housing is a right and that housing is health. Stress from housing insecurity has a significant impact on our physical, mental and social health leading to premature death, chronic illness, and social exclusion. Ensuring that everyone has a housing secure future is critical for their health and our collective community’s well-being.
Your government must commit to building or acquiring 33,000 units of permanently affordable housing in Nova Scotia, sufficient for all those in core housing need. Housing security is not simply a supply issue; we must also ensure Nova Scotians have adequate community-based support services based on need, to ensure they can live a quality life.
Your government must commit to an investment of $531 million each year for the next 10 years to ensure that these units can be built or acquired and maintained. We urge you to commit an average of an additional $161 million per year must be dedicated to operating spending over those 10 years. This plan not only resolves housing insecurity but involves significant job creation, not only for construction jobs but also for community service and public service employment.
These investments, however, must be coupled with the right policy and programs grounded through the following principles as articulated by the Housing for All Working Group:
Affordable housing solutions must ensure that access to housing is a right, and not based on one’s ability to purchase in the market.
Affordable housing must be regarded as a public good and controlled by the community.
Housing policy must be holistic and interconnected. If we do not prioritize upstream solutions across policy silos to address the root causes of homelessness and housing insecurity we will be constantly reacting to emergencies and will stay fixated on stop-gap measures.
Housing must respect, protect and promote social inclusion, and address deeply-rooted systemic barriers to tackle how race, gender, class, and ability compound exclusions related to housing and housing supports.
Housing must redress the legacies of colonialism, racism, and enslavement, and solutions need to be grounded in reconciliation and reckoning to address the historical and violent dispossession of land and property by colonial governments from Indigenous and African Nova Scotian communities.
Solutions to the housing crisis present an opportunity to address climate justice. We must incorporate climate justice and evidence-based greenhouse gas emission reduction goals into policy design and consider the effect of climate change and environmental racism on different communities.
Housing must contribute to the development of decent work and well-being. We must ensure that those who build and maintain housing, as well as those who provide housing-related support services, are paid a living wage, and are provided with decent benefits and supports.
Addressing the housing and homelessness crises must involve more open decision-making processes, including stakeholder and tenant engagement, in order to safeguard non-market housing from the influence of corporations and business interests.
Affordable housing solutions must be part of a systematic plan that includes clear lines of accountability, with strong targets and timelines for measuring progress, applied to each level of government.
Housing policy must ensure fiscal fairness and tax-payer equity while addressing income and wealth inequality. Specific tax measures, assessed on the basis of one’s ability to pay, should be adopted to fund the necessary investments in affordable housing.
We call on you to accept that housing is a human right and that housing is health. We call on you to implement all 95 recommendations from the Housing for All Working Group’s paper, Keys to a housing secure future for all Nova Scotians.
Sincerely,
Nova Scotia Action Coalition for Community Wellbeing
Dalhousie Legal Aid
Nova Scotia College of Social Workers
Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives - Nova Scotia
PhOEnix Youth programs
Family Service Association of Western Nova Scotia
Equity Watch
No More Warehousing
Nova Scotia ACORN
Cape Breton Regional Library
Community Advocates Network
Nova Scotia Voice of Women for Peace
Brunswick Street Mission
Martha Justice MInistry
Wisdom2action
Colchester Anti Poverty Network
Tri-County Women's Centre
Canadian Mental Health Association Colchester East Hants Branch
Social Justice Committee, St James United Church, Antigonish
Colchester Sexual Assault Centre
Antigonish Poverty Reduction Coalition
The Ally Centre of Cape Breton
Cape Breton County Community Health Board
High Hopes Housing Cooperative
Truro Homeless Outreach Society
NEW DAWN Enterprises Ltd.
Nova Scotia Voice of Women for Peace
Adsum for Women & Children
Megan Peters
Madonna van Vonderen
kathrin winkler
Tracy Wilson
Suzanne Edgar
Ronda Laybolt
Alisha Moors
Elizabeth Sutherland
Stephen Walsh
Lee-Anne Lavell
Riley Chamberlain
Nicole Pottie
Maggie McCulloch
Joanne Sulman
Bethany Porter
Kristian Rasenberg
Brea Beals
Sandra Orlando
Tina Scothorn
Jackie Stewart
Carolyn Wickwire
Barbara Orr
Mark Eddy
Wendy Mersey
Angel Beaucage
Eileen Paul
Danielle Drouin
Carlene Lafarge
Margaret Johnson
Abbey Campbell
Heather Reed
Nancy Roscoe-Huntley
Violet Graves
Stephen Prall
Amanda Mombourquette
Helen Lanthier
Kelly McGregor - Housing Locator- Portal Youth Outreach Association
Margaret Casey
Connie Duchene
Carrie Mac Donald
Sonya Henderson
Sarah Armstrong
Jessica Beals
Melissa Thatcher
Chad Brazier
Debbie Connolly
Rebecca Lombardo
Cheryl Coolen
Khalid Abaza
Heather Kent
Linda Rowe
Amanda Croft
Kelly Swinimer
Catherine Johnston
Beverly Redden
Lorrie Rand
Julia Chapman
Denice Wright
Kelly Francis
Carrie Humphrey
Laura Marsh
Matthew Mersey
Lynn Childs
Cheryl Noel
Katelyn Dickey
Benoit Gravel
JD Howell
Aaron Anderson
Penny Conway
Leigh-Ann Quilty
Melanie Bartlett
Catherine Frizzell
Elaine Gunn
Kristel Fleuren-Hunter
Jonethan Brigley
Elizabeth Lee
Alison Lloy
Sheilagh Martin
Cindy Beaton
Heather Nicholson
Mary Morrison
Patricia Roberts
Catherine Leviten-Reid
Sarah Currie
Robert Anders
Meaghan Morrison
Laurie Ehler
Tracey Swanson
David Boehm
Lauren Devine
Tom Servaes
Margo Boyd
John Cascadden
Trudy Mosher
Wendy Slaunwhite
Holly Grue
Harold Inness
Mel Roberts
margaret johnson
P Hubley
Elizabeth MacDonald
Joelle Badman
Diane Penny
Bev Cadham
Shelley Curtis-Thompson
Elizabeth Ogden
Tara Kinch
Carole Kowcun
Susan Adams
Patricia Stephens-Brown
Geraldine Wright
Megan MacBride
Stella Lord
San Patten
Trudy Byrne
Lisa Lachance
Dani Gallagher
Sarah Flemming
Trish McCourt
Veronika Deliyannakis
Susan Henderson
Michèle Ashby
Colleen Walsh-Bouman
Leslie Loughead
Bev Loughead
Darlene O'Leary
Evelyn Williams
Jennifer Pratt
Mary Purdy
Christine Porter
Clarence Boutilier
Melanie Denny
karen leblanc
Susanne Wise
Amy Elliott
Joy Woolfrey
David Boehm
jeff karabanow
Marie Bair
Luke Goodwin
sue king-darby
Wyanne Sandler
Michele Mac Phee
Jane Arnold
Elizabeth Lee
Neha Singh
Carolyn Earle
Wanda Macumber
Trina Elliott
Bob Inglis
Quinn Sawyer
Margo Wheaton
Malorie Beckett
Leanne Cyr
Shonda Johnson-Cain
Natalie Jewell
gloria cheetham
Angel Nichols
Brenda Watson
Rose King
Holly MacNeil
Tara Williams
Ocean Oneill
Krista McNair
Sarah MacKinnon
airelynn cabacungan
Julissa Stewart
Robert MacIntyre
Brii Wood
Tricia Thibodeau Peachey
Holly MacGregor
Amanda Negus
Brittany Corbett
Tabatha Gaudaur
Marlene MacDonald
Ashley G
Tessa Davidson
ERIC LEVITEN-REID
Jenna Powers
Breanna McGee
Rebekah Mifflin
Alisa Melanson
Charlene Boyce
Erika Shea
Meaghan Christie
Abbey Campbell
Connie Duchene
Nancy Roscoe-Huntley
Geraldine Wright
Nigel Kearns
Heather Reed
Jenn Collins
Rebecca A Lombardo
Lillian Loppie
Melinda Shaw
Candace Ballard
Brian Loughead
Lynette Colley
Kathleen Aikens
Helen Danahy
Kimberly Smith
Ronda Laybolt
Christina Murphy
Natalie Jewell
Katherine Reed
Paulette Cameron
Krista Elliott
Sheilagh Martin
Wanda Macumber
Kathy Pickard
Genevieve Keen
Anne Hoganson
Emily Parsons
A. Seruntine
Shirley Campbell
Christle ogley
Kelsey Spencer
Dana Mills
Deirdre Dwyer
Kelly Abi-Daoud
Margaret Anne McHugh
Jane Cawley
Linda Burrows
Barbara Shore
Liz Pierik
tanya lake
Rennae Kletzel
Jim Flemming
Lynne Munro
Marsha Milner
Cheryl Deveaux-McDaniel
Tracy Clarke
Pat Kipping
Anne Bishop
Krista McNair
Wendy Mersey
Niki Nash
Anne Goguen
Anne Lypn
Jennifer Teal
Lotus Centre
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Tanyia Arenburg
Candace Caines
Elaine Cohen
Dianne Percival
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Darcie Nickerson
Val DeLorey
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Jessica MacBurnie
Jordan Atkinson
Hope Johnson
Jessica Manley
Sam Miller
Shauna Greene
Barbara Vallis
Victoria Levack
Michaela Smith
Tove Morigan
kathrin winkler
Nadia Siritsky
Peggy Smith
Laura Bradbury
Nova Wright
Anita Rushton
Kelly MacDonald
Sylvia Larade
Jennifer Smith
Jamie Smith
Serita MacLellan
Karen Aucoin
Patsy Oxner
Linda Rowe
Leslie Akerman
Kelly Blair
Elizabeth McCormack
Samantha Pierangeli
Janine Musolino
Angela Amiro
Beryl MacLeod
Melanie Barber
Elizabeth Ogden
Nick Marshall
Kim MacDonald
Lisa STEWART-ARSENAULT
Cezanne HORNE
Marjorie Simmins
Roxanne Auger
Nikki Ouellette
Laura Bradbury
Deborah Wills
Marcia Keats Rudolph
Jody Rhodenizer
Stacey Rudderham
Jennifer Logan
Pat Brown
Kimberly Hutt
Christine Webber
Amita McNeil
Laurel MacLeod
Christine Mirabelli
Natalie Smith
deena leblanc
Lisa LeMesurier
Helen Lofgren
Kristin Kuttner
Nicole Clarke
Lindsay Tattrie
Linda Wallace
Judy Green
Danielle Davison
Kristen Crewe
Tanya Peckmann
Charlotte Peckmann
Terry Skidgmore
Patricia Tufts
Melissa Thomas
Jillian Fage
Lana Larder
Jeanne MacDonald
Nicolle Barteaux
Jessica Walker
Anne marie Desveaux
Brian Henderson
Manon Hache
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Alan Faulkner
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Anne Vaughan
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Mark Hubbard
Gloria Costello
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marilyn williams
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Hannah Burrows
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Ryan Cook
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Henry Colin
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Darlene Brewer
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Ken Corkum
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Lu MacDonald
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sherry jennings
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Kathi Petersen
Linda Pellow
Hailey White
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Michelle Raeturple
Terry Choyce
Jolene Reid
terry Caldwell
Debbie Northrup
David Wimberly
Mary Poole
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Marg Murray
Kelly Hemeon
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Kelly Blair
Christian Stalley
Brideen Morgan
Marla Blenkhorn
Lori Lymburner
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Peggy Moulaison
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Lisa Wells
Brian Loughead
Beverley Loughead
Andrew Burbidge
Mike Randall
Kimberley Parker
Melissa Davison
Kenda Landry
Micha Cromwell
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Marion Taylor
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Chad Norman
Angela Smith
Renee Corkum
Clifford Brown
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David Isenor
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Deborah Perkins
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ernest cary
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Victoria Farrell
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louise mader
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aimee redding
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su-ann firman
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