The Nova Scotia Provincial Housing Agency (NSPHA) has told singles, couples and small families living in public housing with extra bedrooms to move to smaller units. According to a provincial audit conducted by the agency, there are nearly 1,968 public housing tenants with extra bedrooms that should be given to others. The waitlist for public housing is at an all-time high. The provincial government calls it “overhousing” when there are bedrooms in a home that aren’t occupied. Officials say 7,683 families are waiting for public housing in Nova Scotia. The CBC reported the initiative is beginning with those “most severely overhoused” — the 500 tenants with two or more extra bedrooms in their home. .“It's not a short process," said Pam Menchenton, the executive director of client services for the NSPHA. "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 tenants received a letter and a phone call, and finally a visit by agency staff, beginning with those who are “overhoused.” The agency pays for the move and staff works to keep them close to family and friends, as well as support services. The household has the option to turn down the new unit twice until they are forced to move regardless. .Menchenton cited the “longer waitlist than ever" of families in need of affordable housing. For example, she said, the public housing community of Greystone in Spryfield there are 295 family units compared to the 500 on the waitlint. "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."A total of 39 families have moved since February 2023, and the agency said the process could go on for years..Elaine Williams, chair of the Mulgrave Park Tenants Association, a region in the north end of Halifax, said at least seven households in the Mulgrave Park community in the north end of Halifax will have to move to smaller units.Some senior tenants have lived in their homes since their children were young. Williams said the government-owned units must be used to capacity, but the process of having people removed from their homes is difficult. "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.".There is a clause in the lease that states tenants may be moved, most people were unaware of it, Williams said. "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,” she added. "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."
