Grappling with homelessness means figuring out what is affordable: Expert

A count of people experiencing homelessness in Halifax Regional Municipality showcases that the city still has work to do to help its vulnerable constituents.

The data from the Affordable Housing Association of Nova Scotia, an advocate organization, shows that 66 per cent of people are experiencing chronic homelessness, meaning they have been without a permanent address for at least 180 days over a year. This is a trend that a 2024 report from the organization highlighted as a growing issue within the region.

As of Sept. 10, the organization was able to identify and count 1,028 people who are homeless in HRM, with 667 considered chronically homeless.

The report did note that four individuals and/or families were housed that week, but these disproportionate statistics continue to highlight the need for affordable housing.

However, affordable housing is not a one-size-fits-all solution, Michael Kabalen, executive director at the Affordable Housing Association of Nova Scotia, told The Todd Veinotte Show.

“What has been affordable for a long time has changed,” he said. “People are defining affordable by what they can find that meets their needs.”

Historically, organizations and governments have used a statistic that came out of the U.S. after World War II, which said that affordable housing is 30 per cent of a person’s income. But Kabalen said that the definition might not fit those on fixed incomes.

“I think affordability has to be tied to availability, because the more housing that there is available that isn’t the high end of the market, the more options people will have to find something that meets their needs for what they can afford to pay,” he said.

This factor is more than just supply versus demand, Kabalen explained, focusing on the private market, bringing affordable units online has not solved the increasing rent prices the province is seeing. A report from the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation notes that Halifax has seen the highest year-over-year increase in rents paid in occupied two-bedroom units, up 17 per cent, despite the fact that the same data shows rental supply is rising.

Michael Kabalen, Executive Director, at the Affordable Housing Association of Nova Scotia

“Since the 90s, we haven’t had a big engine of non-market housing occur right across the country, particularly in Nova Scotia; the amount of new affordable government-sponsored housing has been relatively small,” Kabalen said. “Simple economics haven’t been enough, right? The free market, when there was a scarcity of housing, pushed rents up, and they probably aren’t going to come down if we continue to focus on the free market principles.”

He pointed to other cities across the world that had higher supplies of government-funded affordable housing, but also recognized that getting to a point where public housing grows from the current 2 per cent to 20 per cent will take many years.

In Kabalen’s perspective, a way to do this is to build affordable housing by an organization that looks to keep the units at a low cost for a “social” reason rather than an “investment.” Another way to keep these units affordable is by reducing operational costs, like power and water, and to do that, he says, focusing on environmental builds is key.

“If you’re a private builder and your intention is to get the highest return on your investment, I can see why they see that as an additional cost, right, to invest in the environmental side,” he said. “But where we are making that investment early on in order to reduce our operating costs forever, we don’t see it as more expensive.”