Making housing a human right in Nova Scotia

 Stephen Wentzell is writing in the Nova Scotia Advocate about a report by the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives-Nova Scotia (CCPA-NS)

A plan for affordable housing

 

that is making nearly 100 recommendations to address affordable housing and homelessness crises across the province.

Using an intersectional lens, the report aims to significantly reduce income inequality in the province, where nearly one in four children live below the poverty line. The report sends a stark reminder of the cost of government inaction on poverty, “costing Nova Scotia $2 billion per year in economic loss, $279 million in excess public service costs, and $231 million in foregone revenue.”  The kicker: The report’s 95 recommendations are cumulatively cheaper than the cost of government inaction. Among the directives is a push to build or acquire 33,490 additional units of permanently affordable, non-market housing for Nova Scotians over a 10-year-plan.1

The discussion on affordable housing needs to consider dealing with housing as a human right.

Municipal action for affordable housing

 

We must weigh the cost of this initiative by comparing it to the cost of inaction on this key economic determinant of health.

1(n.d.). Nova Scotia Advocate. Retrieved May 26, 2021, from https://nsadvocate.org/