N.S. funded 954 new affordable rental units in last 5 years. Experts say this is far from enough

Michael Kabalen walks through a construction site that will soon be a neighbourhood of affordable rental units, tucked away on a quiet street in Dartmouth, N.S.

The rows of townhouses on True North Crescent are part of a 32-unit development, built with funding from the provincial and federal governments. 

Kabalen, the head of the Affordable Housing Association of Nova Scotia (AHANS), said the units his organization is building are desperately needed in a province that is experiencing skyrocketing rents and low vacancy rates.

Yet housing developments like this aren't being approved fast enough, he said.

"This project ... took months of planning, months of back and forth with all the different levels of government," Kabalen said. "I don't think governments are moving quickly enough to have a meaningful impact on the affordable housing crisis."

Hard data on affordable housing being built in Nova Scotia every year isn't publicly available. 

Data the Department of Municipal Affairs and Housing provided to CBC shows the province has helped fund 954 affordable rental units in the past five years. The projects are at varying stages, with some completed, some under construction, and some in planning stages.

Most of these new affordable units are part of larger developments that include market price units as well, built by private developers or by non-profit organizations like AHANS. 

At the current pace, it would be impossible to meet the target of 33,000 affordable homes Nova Scotia is expected to need over the next decade.

In the last five years, the funding through this program has amounted to $54,934,988.

While Housing Department officials say the annual budget for affordable housing hovered around $2 million for many years, and is now around $18 million, Kabalen said the effects have been minimal.

"We're seeing the most investment and the most activity around the affordable housing sector in a generation or in a couple of generations," he said. "I think the government can be proud that it's doing more than previous governments have, but it doesn't take much to do more than nothing." 

Funding for affordable housing can come from municipal, provincial and federal governments, but the province plays a key role. 

Currently, provincial funding comes from Nova Scotia's new Affordable Housing Development Program, and similar previous programs have been consolidated into it.