This report is the first step in a new era of action to make affordable housing more available and protect existing stock—to ultimately ensure every Nova Scotian has a safe and affordable place to call home. It is not about specific funding levels or quantitative goals and targets, although we have identified a number of Quick Start Investments the Province can support immediately given the urgency of the situation. This report presents our vision for more sustainable, affordable, and inclusive rental housing for Nova Scotians.

Our first task was to understand what is widening the gap between the demand for and supply of affordable housing. Some of our challenges are massive trends impacting every arena of life in our province—low incomes, rising land and construction costs, high energy costs, population growth, and changing demographics. Then we were hit with COVID-19. While our global context may be too abstract to affect, there’s much we can do to streamline and simplify processes, spark new activity and collaboration, and get beyond the limitations of ‘how things have always been done’. The perfect storm of conditions in 2020 pushed our system to a breaking point. The perfect storm of conditions in 2020 pushed our system to a breaking point. This is where we find ourselves today, bringing experts and academics, entrepreneurs, housing providers, developers, landlords, community organizers, and residents together for the common cause of our province’s well-being.