Hundreds denied rent supplement after N.S. quietly changed eligibility rules

Brian Dauphinee is being renovicted from his $637-a-month Halifax studio apartment at the end of August, and is about to anxiously wade into the city's increasingly expensive rental market.

But the 69-year-old, who lives on a pension, will do so without the help of a rent supplement. He's one of hundreds of people who have been denied financial aid in recent months under a change made to the joint provincial-federal program.

"I was holding on hope that something might come through, and it certainly didn't. So they wasted my time," Dauphinee said. "And then all of the rents in the area here are sky high, they just seemed to all of a sudden magically start to double and triple."

In late January, the province quietly changed the eligibility rules for the Canada-Nova Scotia Targeted Housing Benefit, a supplement designed to help low-income people pay for housing. In order to qualify, a person must now be spending at least 50 per cent of their pre-tax income on housing, up from 30 per cent.

Numbers provided recently to CBC News by the Department of Municipal Affairs and Housing show that since the change, 324 applicants have been denied for not meeting the new 50 per cent threshold.

The province said it is offering more rent supplements than in previous years. But the new restrictions mean some applicants who would have qualified under the old rules are now out of luck.

Housing advocates argue the new thresholds don't recognize the reality of skyrocketing rents, and that it's no longer just the lowest-income people who can't afford somewhere to live.

In April, Housing Minister John Lohr told CBC News the change was made for budgetary reasons.

"We could see that the demand for the program was exceeding what the budget would offer," Lohr said. "So, we felt the need to prioritize ... this to those most in need, and that's why that decision was made."

A spokesperson for the department said in a statement that the Houston government has put an additional $21.6 million in this fiscal year's budget toward at least 1,000 new rent supplements.

"This year the province will provide 8,000 rent supplements, which is 1,000 more than the previous year and 3,000 more than 2021," spokesperson Heather Fairbairn said.

Tara Kinch, the community support and outreach manager at Chebucto Connections in the Halifax community of Spryfield, works with low-income clients to complete and submit their rent supplement applications.

She said she has seen more people denied support since the changes, and wait-times have risen to new levels.

She said the changes mean only the lowest-income people are now eligible, but they aren't the only ones who need the help.