Premier holds off on moratorium on evictions
HALIFAX, N.S. – Following a call from the opposition NDP to place a moratorium on evictions in Nova Scotia during the COVID-19 outbreak, Premier Stephen Mcneil said he’d make a policy statement this week.
NDP leader Gary Burrill called on Mcneil on Tuesday to immediately follow the lead set by Ontario, which announced a stop to eviction orders, “and place a ban on evictions and eviction proceedings during the COVID-19 pandemic.”
“People need to self-isolate, and that is impossible without a safe place to live,” Burrill said March 17.
Mcneil addressed the issue during the question period of Tuesday’s daily media briefing on COVID-19. Asked whether he’d stop rent increases and evictions during the outbreak, Mcneil said the federal government was expected to announce financial help for Canadians on Wednesday, and his government will “lay out a suite of public policy positions” later in the week.
“We don’t believe we need to do a state of emergency,” he said. “We will lay out public policy positions in the coming weeks and they will dovetail in with our national partner.”
URGENT NEED
FOR CHANGE: ADVOCATE
With a record low vacancy rate during a public health emergency, advocates believe the situation is more urgent.
“If we’re shutting down, which appears to be what we are, I don’t see how tenants are supposed to be able to pack up, move, get out and find a place,” Nova Scotia Legal Aid lawyer Tammy Wohler said in an interview Monday. “I think it’s going to be a problem.” Wohler said she’s seen a recent increase in so-called renovictions — where landlords evict tenants to complete improvement to buildings.
“Landlords are just giving notices and taking their own steps toward enforcement,” she said.
“I don’t know the numbers, but we do see people panicking.”
These renovictions often affect entire buildings. CBC reported on a case earlier this month where an entire building of tenants in Dartmouth was told to be out by the end of April.
There are multiple buildings in the city with tenants facing the same issue, according to housing support worker Leigh Maclean.
Maclean said there should “absolutely” be a moratorium on evictions.
“We already know that the shelters are at capacity, so any person you’re kicking out, you’re making homeless,” she said.
Halifax NDP MLA Lisa Roberts, the party’s housing spokesperson, said in an interview Monday that the party was waiting to see what the federal and provincial governments would do.
“I hope that the provincial government recognizes that with a one-percent vacancy rate and with this huge public health threat, it is so important that people have a secure place to call home so that they can socially distance, so that they can potentially self-isolate if they’ve been exposed,” she said.
Roberts said she supports a moratorium on evictions, but isn’t sure how the government would legally implement one.
WHAT ABOUT SHELTERS?
She’s also concerned about Haligonians living in shelters, which have become “dangerous” during the outbreak.
“You’ve got 25 people sleeping on cots in one room,” she said.
She suggested there are more hotel vacancies than usual, and the province should move shelter tenants in to ensure they can practise social distancing.
“These issues have been very present and we’ve been talking about them. I don’t think we could have anticipated how acutely it would intersect with really all of our public health,” Roberts said.
“It’s one of these circumstances where it’s sort of laid bare that in fact we’re all connected and everybody’s welfare depends on everybody else’s welfare. And for people who are precariously housed, it’s very real.”