Sheri Lecker, executive director of Adsum for Women and Children, testified before a Nova Scotia legislature committee, urging that addressing key pathways leading to homelessness is crucial. She highlighted two major issues: fixed-term leases and “renovictions.” Fixed-term leases allow landlords to increase rents beyond the province’s five percent cap, while renovictions force tenants to vacate for renovations, often leading to unaffordable housing options. Lecker argued that political action is needed to tackle these problems as homelessness in Nova Scotia has worsened.
She also pointed out that homelessness statistics often exclude the “hidden homeless” and children in unstable housing. For instance, a recent list by the Affordable Housing Association of Nova Scotia missed 197 children among the 1,286 self-reported unhoused individuals in Halifax. Lecker emphasized that stable housing is crucial for improving health outcomes, citing national research indicating that homeless individuals experience longer and more costly emergency room visits.
Joy Knight from the Department of Health supported this, noting that emergency room visits for unhoused individuals cost $20,000 on average, double the cost for those with secure housing due to longer stays. Marie-France LeBlanc of the North End Community Health Centre added that their clinic sees about 1,980 patients experiencing homelessness, in addition to 5,000 patients transitioning out of homelessness and another 4,000 as needed. The clinic also provides housing and plans to add 37 more units in March.
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