Non-profit group has urgent need for affordable apartment

The Halifax region’s housing crunch is affecting several communities, including LGBTQI+ refugees.

A non-profit group helping people resettle in this province has issued an appeal for a rental place for LGBTQI+ newcomers.

“We are urgently seeking an affordable three-bedroom apartment (that’s) preferably in the Halifax area,” says a recent notice from the Rainbow Refugee Association of Nova Scotia.

The grassroots group is seeking a place on peninsular Halifax, or in Clayton Park, Fairview or Spryfield.

Anyone with leads or contacts in the local rental market is asked to contact the association as soon as possible at rrans.staff@gmail.com.

In February, Halifax Regional Municipality had a vacancy rate of one per cent, CBC News reported, citing a report released by the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation. The vacancy rate is among the lowest in the country.

The Rainbow Refugee Association is also looking for volunteers.

“We have a few newcomers arriving in the next couple of months,” the group’s notice says. It says the next volunteer orientation will be in May/June.

For more information, contact the organization at rransvolunteers@gmail.com.

Established in 2011, the association doesn’t receive government funding and “relies solely on the generous support of individuals, the community and corporate sponsors,” its website says.

Fundraising goes on continuously, it says.

The refugee association has helped lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, intersex and other sexual or gender identity newcomers from such regions of the world as the Middle East, Latin America and Africa.

Michael Lightstone is a freelance reporter living in Dartmouth