N.S. NDP leader becomes housing critic, says government doing nothing to solve crisis

HALIFAX – Nova Scotia’s Opposition leader has taken on the role of housing critic to draw attention to the province’s housing crisis and what she says is the provincial government’s lack of interest in a top-of-mind problem.

NDP Leader Claudia Chender told a news conference Tuesday that since Progressive Conservative Leader Tim Houston became premier in 2021, apartment rentals have become unaffordable across the province.

“It’s clear that Tim Houston’s government is not focused on housing,” she said. “He’s interested in letting friends and insiders decide his priorities, not on solving problems for Nova Scotians.”

Catherine Klimek, a spokeswoman for the premier’s office, issued a statement saying the government’s two-year-old housing strategy calls for more than 14,000 new housing units. But the statement does not say how many units have been built.

“The NDP has voted against every investment that made this progress possible,” Klimek’s statement says.

Chender went on to cite statistics from the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corp. that show the average rent in Nova Scotia rose by more than $4,300 on an annual basis between October 2021 and October 2024.

“We’re hearing about bidding wars for apartments in Yarmouth,“ she told the news conference. “This is unheard of in our province and this government is doing nothing to stop it.”

As well, she cited figures from Statistics Canada showing that in 2024, the proportion of before-tax income spent on housing and transportation in Halifax rivalled levels reported from Toronto and were higher than in Montreal or Ottawa.

The NDP leader then took aim at Houston’s recent decision to appoint John White as the new housing minister — without creating a separate housing department for him to oversee. 

“(White) has no department to do the work and he seems to have no opinion on some of the biggest issues in housing,” Chender said, referring to the minister’s assertion last week that persistent complaints about fixed-term leases weren’t his responsibility. Fixed-term leases allow landlords to raise rents higher than the five per cent cap if they lease to a new tenant.

“How are policies that impact renters not part of the housing minister’s job?” Chender said.

Houston made his priorities clear during a recent cabinet shuffle that saw the premier appoint himself as energy minister, she added.

“He’s decided that the most important priority for our province is some faraway goal of becoming an energy exporter. That is not what we are hearing from Nova Scotians …. (They) want a resilient economy and an affordable place to live.”

Klimek’s statement says the government’s bid to become an energy exporter is aimed at growing Nova Scotia’s economy, making it possible for the province to invest more money “in homes, highways and health care.”

Chender also criticized Houston for failing to deliver on a promise to establish a housing strategy for students.

In response, Klimek’s statement calls attention to the Tory government’s decision to build seven community college residences, which will eventually have 618 beds.

On another front, Chender called on the government to impose rent controls on each unit rather than each tenant, which she says would eliminate the incentive for landlords to force people to move and then raise the rent.

The federal mortgage corporation says that as of October 2024, the average rent for a two-bedroom apartment in Halifax was just over $1,700, up 3.8 per cent compared to the year prior. However, the corporation found that the average rent for housing units that changed tenants in 2024 increased by about 28 per cent. 

The NDP leader repeated her demand for a residential tenancy enforcement unit that would hold landlords accountable for violations of the Residential Tenancies Act.

If people can’t afford housing, they won’t stay in Nova Scotia, she said.

“Nova Scotians don’t want a future built on the bare minimum,” she said. “There are choices that this government could make to ensure that prices don’t skyrocket and that people are protected.”

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 4, 2025.