More than 50 new public housing units in N.S. to be occupied by fall

The Nova Scotia government says 51 two- and three-bedroom modular homes for about 170 low-income seniors, individuals and families will be move-in ready by the fall.

On Thursday, Development and Growth Minister Colton LeBlanc toured an eight-plex building that will soon welcome 24 residents in Digby, N.S.

"It's going to be a special moment for folks who are on the waitlist that need to find a place to call home, when they can walk into this place and have a roof over their head," LeBlanc told CBC News on Friday.

The Digby building is among the 273 new public housing units announced throughout 2023 to be constructed across Nova Scotia that will accommodate more than 700 people. 

The $103-million plan marked the first significant investment in new public housing since the 1990s, at a time when many Nova Scotians are desperate for an affordable place to live.

There were 7,978 people on the public housing waitlist as of March 31.

"The challenges that we're seeing in the housing market are not unique to Halifax. We see them right across this province," LeBlanc said.

Some of the new units are modular two- and three-bedroom prefabricated homes and multi-unit buildings that can be built more quickly than traditional public housing. 

One of the builders said the whole process takes a matter of months. 

"This came in 16 boxes, so 16 boxes. It was sort of like Lego, right? It just stacks together and we tie everything together from there," explained Brad Ross of Citadel Homes.

Twenty-five units have already been built in places like Glace Bay, Springhill and Digby, and are occupied, the province said. Like all public housing, residents pay 30 per cent of their income for rent.

"This is even that much more special, you know, people who really need housing. To be involved in this kind of gives you some nice motivation to wake up in the morning and go to work knowing that you're really doing something that's going to help," Ross said.

The 25 units include two four-plexes in Glace Bay, one four-plex in Springhill and 13 single-family modular homes:

• One in Glace Bay.
• One in Ingonish.
• Two in Port Hawkesbury.
• Three in Antigonish.
• Two in Amherst.
• One in Westville.
• One in Clyde River.
• Two in Barrington.

As well, 222 public housing units in Glace Bay, Lower Sackville, Kentville, Grand Etang, Bridgewater and Bible Hill are at various stages of development. The province expects to have 22 units in Glace Bay ready by the fall.

The province says the modular units will be finished by this fall and the rest of the larger buildings will be finished by 2028.