Press Hits

A Nova Scotia Legal Aid lawyer and social justice advocate says Nova Scotia renters “do not feel heard, they do not feel protected, and they do not trust that the systems in place will deliver justice when they need it most.”

Nora MacIntosh introduced a new initiative at Legal Aid — the Tenants’ Rights Program — that she said “aims to raise awareness and increase access to justice” for the more than 300,000 people who rent their homes.

The lawyer will be one of several witnesses at today’s meeting of the legislature’s community services committee on the topic of “Tenant rights under the Residential Tenancies Act.” If her speech at the recent annual meeting of the New Democratic Party (NDP) is any indication, MacIntosh won’t pull any punches.

Nova Scotia’s Official Opposition are questioning how much progress the provincial government has made on longstanding concerns surrounding the rental housing market from both landlords and tenants.

“It sounds like we’re on a hamster wheel,” NDP MLA Suzy Hansen told reporters after a meeting of the legislature’s standing committee on community services on Tuesday.

The committee heard from advocates for tenants and representatives for landlords who cycled through issues they’ve raised for years about Nova Scotia’s rental housing market.

On Tuesday, members of the legislature’s community services committee meeting heard a range of opinions about the rights of tenants in Nova Scotia when it comes to fixed-term leases.

Witnesses who appeared before the committee spoke about various aspects of the agenda topic, Tenant rights under the Residential Tenancies Act. Those who addressed the committee included associate deputy minister of Service Nova Scotia, Gary O’Toole. He was one of several who spoke on the issue of fixed-term leases.

During a community services committee meeting held last spring, O’Toole told reporters that “fixed-term leases are being used inappropriately.”

When Debbie Staples was told she might have to leave the apartment she has lived in for nearly 20 years, she tried to imagine what might come next. “Is the postman going to deliver the mail to my car?” she recalls thinking. “Because that’s where I’d be living.”
Ottawa doesn’t just have a housing shortage. It has a housing logjam.

It’s a problem across the board, but it shows up especially clearly among seniors. Many who might otherwise move — because their homes are larger than they need, for example — are staying put, not because they want to, but because there’s nowhere obvious to go, particularly if they’re reaching an age where they need some supports. Downsizing is one thing. Leaving behind a neighbourhood — and the community that comes with it — is another. Others don’t have the luxury of staying. Older renters on fixed or limited incomes are increasingly being pushed out by rising rents or renovictions, only to find that what comes next is far more expensive, and often out of reach.

Solar power has truly come of age. Dropping in cost by 99.9 per cent over the past 50 years, it is now, by far, the cheapest source of energy in history.

Resistant to fluctuations in the price of oil and natural gas, once installed it provides essentially free electricity for the life of the panels, at least 25 years. That’s probably why you see it popping up on houses and in farm fields across our province.

One notable exception? Condos, apartments and backyard sheds.

England has ushered in sweeping changes to its tenancy laws, including the end of fixed-term leases. Housing advocates in Nova Scotia have been pushing for this for a long time. We’ll find out how it’s going on the other side of the pond.