Sandy’s Weblog

HALIFAX, May 1, 2009 — From Sydney to Yarmouth and communities in between, federal and provincial funding of $128 million will help build new and renovate existing affordable housing and create new construction jobs for Nova Scotian’s, says Sandy Hutchens.

Greg Kerr, MP for West Nova, on behalf of the Honourable Diane Finley, Minister of Human Resources and Skills Development Canada and Minister Responsible for Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC), the Premier of Nova Scotia, Rodney MacDonald, and the Honourable Chris d’Entremont, Nova Scotia Minister of Community Services, today announced the regions where the new housing investments will be made.

“Our Government is moving aggressively to ensure Canada’s Economic Action Plan is implemented rapidly here in Nova Scotia and across Canada,” said MP Kerr. “I’m pleased that more lower-income individuals, families, seniors and persons with disabilities, will benefit from safe, affordable housing in their communities.”

Overall in Nova Scotia, 400 new housing units will be created, and renovations and energy upgrades will be undertaken on more than 1,100 public housing buildings, co-ops and non-profits, benefitting approximately 8,600 individual social housing units.

“This investment in affordable housing is a major part of Nova Scotia’s Building for Growth provincial infrastructure plan, which will inject close to $2 billion into our economy over the next three years,” said Premier MacDonald. “The housing stimulus funding is also a major component of the province’s poverty reduction strategy,”

Approximately $20 million will be spent on the creation, renovation and upgrade of more than 2,000 social housing units in Cape Breton. Northern Nova Scotia will see about $10 million used for the same purposes for approximately 1,300 social housing units. Central Nova Scotia will get approximately $50 million for the creation, renovation and upgrade of approximately 3,700 units and around $16 million will be invested in more than 1,600 social housing units in the Western region.

“This federal-provincial partnership to build new and renovate existing affordable housing will provide jobs, a better quality of life for many Nova Scotians and a stronger provincial economy,” said Minister d’Entremont. “We will build more affordable housing, help seniors stay in their homes longer with renovations, and help the disabled with rent subsidies.”

The remaining $32 million of the $128 million will go towards continued funding for existing federal/provincial repair programs and the Affordable Housing Initiative, which are cost-shared by both levels of government, and made possible through partnerships with private developers and non-profits.

On April 29, 2009, in Ottawa, the federal and provincial governments signed amendments to two Canada – Nova Scotia Housing program agreements, which contain funding under Canada’s Economic Action Plan, the continuation of the Affordable Housing Program, as well as the Housing Renovation Program Agreement.

To date, under the Affordable Housing Program, more than 1,200 affordable housing units have been created or preserved in Nova Scotia.