“We are in a crisis,” said Lisa Ryan, executive director of the South Shore Open Doors Association. “There are no vacancies and rental rates have risen so significantly that most people who work and live here have cost homelessness.” He said the influx of new residents, rising holiday homes and short-term rentals, and skyrocketing inflation were causing the situation to deteriorate rapidly. “It has never been so bad.” The South Shore Open Doors Association is located in Bridgewater, NS, but serves the area. And although Ryan has learned that there are few or no vacancies in the area, there is no official evidence to support them.
Data gaps
Canada Mortgage Housing Corporation has inconsistent primary rental data for some of the South Shore and no data for the rest of the region. In Lunenburg County, there are no data on vacancy rates and average rent. David Harris, a spokesman for the CMHC, told CBC News that the sites were not accurately represented in the annual Rental Market Survey or Rural Market Rental Survey. “In some markets where rental universes are relatively small, response rates can lead to challenges to reliability and confidentiality,” Harris said. “The CMHC does not publish statistics if its reliability is too low or if publishing a statistic would violate confidentiality rules.” The provincial Department of Municipal Affairs and Housing said it was not collecting this information.
More than 25 homeless children
After just a month of tracking who goes through the door and needs help, Ryan said the results are worrying. “We see a lot of people who have never experienced it before,” he said. “This is worrying because some of the people who come through our doors do not work in low-wage jobs and do not receive income support, and they can not even afford housing.” Ryan said a month’s data found 25 children living homeless in Lunenburg County. He said the actual number is probably much higher. Lisa Ryan said her body has a list of people who have nowhere to go and the nearest shelter is nearly 100 miles away in Kentville, NS (Robert Short / CBC) Ryan said most people seeking help have received eviction notices. As rents are low and prices rise with inflation, but wages, pensions and social assistance are stagnant, it creates a perfect storm.
Camp shelter
Ryan said she knows many families with children housed in campsites. Jessica Smith and her family are one of them. Smith has been looking for a new home for her family of seven since their house caught fire last September. An eight-month rental gave them some relief, but Smith, her husband and their five children, aged five to 15, are now homeless and nowhere near finding a place to live. Some families in the area had to resort to hotels and motels that offer monthly rentals. (Robert Short / CBC) “There is nothing available and if something is available, then it is either out of our price range or our family is very large,” Smith told the CBC Mainstreet on Monday. “We never thought we would be in a situation where we had to be homeless with our children,” Smith said, adding that she and her husband both work full time. “We offer very well for our family, but at the moment we can not provide them with a home.”
Rural areas with views
Ryan said the lack of data in rural areas allows them to be overlooked by the county. He said the federal or provincial government could gather better data. “We need the province to listen to us. They need to study us. We need to have as much access to funding and resources as urban centers.” She said her organization also hopes to find solutions as a community and wants local landlords to contact them to offer them housing options and the union can provide some funding.
