A room of one’s own? Not for many Nova Scotians.
According to the 2011 National Household Survey, citizens are outnumbering bedrooms in the province.
The survey classified nearly 14,000 Nova Scotian households as unsuitable based on the number of people compared to the number of bedrooms.
Health Effects
A study from the Canadian Paediatric Society looked at the health effects of living in crowded quarters.
“Crowded housing is associated with a wider and faster spread of communicable diseases, such as lower respiratory tract infections and gastroenteritis. Children and youth living in crowded housing conditions were also found to experience more psychological distress and helplessness, and to not perform as well in school,” the study states.
The study also looked at the effect high housing costs have on homes.
“High housing cost is one of the most frequently cited causes of hunger. Unaffordable housing is linked to food insecurity and inadequate childhood nutrition,” according to the society’s study.
High housing costs are a problem for Nova Scotians, according to Jim Graham, program coordinator of the Affordable Housing Association of Nova Scotia.
‘Incomes just can’t keep pace’
Graham says people in the province are struggling to keep up with housing costs.
“The pressure created on your total income for housing is huge because of low wages, high taxes and high utilities,” Graham says.
According to the housing association, 40 000 households in Halifax spend more than 30 per cent of their income on housing costs.
Graham says landlords aren’t to blame for the high cost to keep a roof over Nova Scotians’ heads.
“There hasn’t been a government investment in new affordable housing stocks since 1991,” says Graham.
Graham says this has created a gap between housing costs and income.
“You’ve got 25 years of that gap growing and growing and growing,” Graham says. “Incomes just can’t keep pace.”
Graham says this is especially hard on those with the lowest incomes.
“They are at the point now where they can’t afford market rent,” Graham says. “It’s got nothing to do with whether market rent is reasonable or unreasonable. Its got to do with the fact their incomes are stagnate.”
Graham says senior citizens, whose government supplements are not keeping up with inflation, fall into the low income category.
“It’s not that landlords are charging too much,” Graham says. “It’s the fact that the bottom incomes just can’t keep pace.”
‘What’s been going on for the last 25 years is not working’
Graham says the country needs to make changes to help Canadians afford a place to live.
“Clearly what’s been going on for the last 25 years is not working,” Graham says.
Graham says the province would need to match new funding from the Liberal Government to see changes at home, but says Nova Scotia is in need of a long term plan.
“You’re not going to solve the problem of 40,000 households with one year’s program,” says Graham.
The government has increased funding for the affordable housing program in the new budget but the housing association believes a sustained effort is needed to fix the country’s housing problems.
“In the great scheme of life it’s not a lot. But it’s something,” Graham says. “There needs to be a national housing strategy which this government has promised to build. So there is hope.”