Legal aid worker fears mass evictions looming

“COVID-19 has made things disastrous for people who are already barely getting by.”

Michelle Malette Adsum House

The province's refusal to extend the eviction ban with no plan to prevent potentially thousands of people from becoming homeless during a state of an emergency is negligent, says a Dalhousie Legal Aid worker.

“Even if the province were to see ... people get evicted during a public health emergency, it would have made sense for them to, at the same time, put extra resources into supports that prevent homelessness, which they have not,” said Mark Culligan, a community legal worker with the group.

The ban was put in place in March to prevent tenants financially impacted by COVID-19 from being evicted for non-payment but was lifted July 1. Homeless shelters in the Halifax area are operating over their capacity, with hundreds of people on a waiting list for shelter.

Culligan and 50 other community organizations are calling on Premier Stephen Mcneil to extend the ban to prevent “Covid-19-related forced evictions into homelessness.” Culligan submitted a plan last week also asking for the province to amend residential tenancies regulations to introduce a reasonable repayment schedule for tenants who struggle to pay the entire month's rent upfront.

But Culligan said he has gotten no indication from the premier's office or anyone in government that the proposal is being considered. He said he expects eviction orders to jump significantly in the next two weeks.

Access Nova Scotia reopened July 2 and began processing eviction applications, but the province won't say how many applications it is working through.

Last week, Kevin Russell, executive director of the Investment Property Owners of Nova Scotia, estimated about 1,800 eviction applications had been filed to Access Nova Scotia at that point.

Shelters in the province are also concerned about the prospect of mass evictions in Nova Scotia. Michelle Malette, a housing support worker at the Adsum House shelter in Halifax, said last week that 329 individuals and families were on the waitlist for shelters in the Halifax area.

Malette said the situation is particularly dire in Halifax, with a lack of social housing, no rent control and the lowest rental vacancy rate in the country.

“I'm extremely concerned," said Malette. “We don't have the capacity to support hundreds and thousands of more people who will be homeless. There is a very low vacancy rate in Halifax. So if you've been evicted for non-payment, another landlord is not going to take you on.”

She said the government has to come up with a plan soon to address what will be a certain spike in homelessness in the province coupled with a second wave of COVID-19 expected to hit in the fall.

“They need to have someone that people from the community can contact who will help them with this,”

Malette said. “It's not going to be housing support workers, because we already work with too many people experiencing chronic homelessness.

“COVID-19 has made things disastrous for people who are already barely getting by.”

COVID-19 and social distancing rules have already put a serious strain on homeless shelters in the province. Federal funding that paid for homeless shelter residents to stay in hotels during the pandemic has ended.

Shelters simply don't have room for the influx from potential mass evictions in the province, said Culligan.

He said the situation also presents a serious public health concern.

“These are some of the most susceptible people to contracting COVID-19, and the most contagious," said Culligan. "If we're creating conditions for lower immunity in situations where they can't practise social distancing, we're creating a problem for all Nova Scotians.”

During Friday's media briefing, the premier wouldn't say whether his government is considering the public health risks posed by potential mass evictions in the province.

He said some tenants impacted by COVID-19 have arranged payment plans with landlords. The premier also said some of the eviction applications being processed by Access Nova Scotia are not related to COVID-19, but the government would not provide any data to back up his comments.

Krista Higdon, a spokeswoman for the province, didn't say whether new funding is coming to help those financially impacted by COVID-19 and facing eviction.

In an email response, Higdon said the government has invested in “rent supplements supporting affordable housing” and that it is in the first year of a three-year action plan to provide more affordable housing options for Nova Scotians. She did not provide details on how many units will be built.

Both Higdon and the premier suggested evictions could be delayed until August, when residential tenancy hearings are expected to restart.

But Culligan said that simply isn't the case for eviction applications for non-payment, where hearings are not necessary.