N.S. government 'setting aside' the release of its housing strategy

Housing Minister John Lohr says he can no longer commit to his government releasing a provincial housing strategy and that has opposition leaders thinking the Tories have something to hide.

"We're committed to action right now," Lohr told reporters at Province House in Halifax on Thursday.

"When we've got all the things done we want to have done we'll look at that, but right now our staff are working flat out on getting things done."

The housing strategy was supposed to be released last spring. Lohr said it was almost ready when the province was struck with historic wildfires and floods.

"We're setting [the strategy] aside and we're continuing to just do actions," he said.

"We've done about five major announcements in the last 10 days. There's more announcements to come. So we're continuing to be a party of action."

A lack of accountability

But opposition party leaders say for action to be meaningful, it needs to be guided by a plan. If that plan exists, they say the public should see it.

"It tells me that there's something in there that [Premier Tim Houston] wants to hide," Liberal Leader Zach Churchill told reporters at Province House on Friday.

"There's either items in there that they don't think they can achieve or there's things that they don't want to do."

Churchill said Nova Scotia has experienced the highest rental increases and inflation rate in the country and housing starts are down by 52 per cent in the last year. The government needs a plan it can share with the public for how it will respond, he said.

"Nova Scotians could have more confidence in the premier on housing if he actually released his plan or told us that he even had one."

Premier says public doesn't want studies

NDP Leader Claudia Chender said Lohr and Houston are skirting accountability by not releasing the strategy.

"This is a government that does not want to be held accountable, that does not want to have to go through any kind of sticky democratic process when dealing with the issues that are the most important to Nova Scotians and I think it's deeply disturbing," she  told reporters at Province House on Friday.

Chender said it seems clear that the strategy is probably done and "that there's something in it that they don't want to share."

The plan was a recommendation of the affordable housing commission, but Houston told reporters on Friday that the public isn't interested in more reports and instead wants to see action on housing.

"I'm not aware of many Nova Scotians that are saying, 'Please, can you put another document together.' What I'm aware of is Nova Scotians saying, 'Get to work.' So we're getting to work."

Houston said people who want to see what's in the housing strategy can see it through his government's actions and announcements.

Lohr recently announced the province would build 222 new government-owned affordable housing units, the first such construction by the province in 30 years. The province also announced this week plans to build a tiny homes community in Lower Sackville for people who are homeless, and funding for temporary shelters made by U.S. company Pallet that can house people as winter approaches.

Along with the provincial housing strategy, the Tory government is also late delivering a housing strategy for students and has yet to publicly release the housing needs assessment, a document that looks at the housing needs of municipalities across the province.

Although it's unclear when — or if — any of those reports will be released, Lohr said he's looking forward to the release of a report card on housing. That document is due in July 2025, the same month the next provincial election is scheduled to take place.