Dalhousie Legal Aid Sees Caseload Balloon As Halifax’s Housing Crisis Deepens
HALIFAX — As Halifax’s housing crisis drags on, an organization on the front lines of tenants’ rights has seen an overwhelming number of new clients who are desperate to stay in their apartments.
Six months ago, Dalhousie Legal Aid Service had to put in new eligibility criteria for clients just to manage its caseload. The most significant is an income criterion: Single clients must make $2,000 a month or less to be approved, while a couple must make less than a combined $2,800.
“We don’t ask for proof [of income],” said Joanne Hussey, who is one of just two Community Legal Aid workers who specialize in tenancy rights for Dalhousie. “We’re just trying to get a ballpark and the criteria is based loosely on a combination of the living wage and the poverty line.”
During the pandemic, Dalhousie Legal Aid took calls from tenants from across Nova Scotia. Now, it must restrict its caseload to just the HRM. And even with the new criteria, the two staff have been busier than ever in recent months.
“We have intakes on Tuesdays and Thursdays every week, when people don’t have to make an appointment and we can chat with them. We’ve seen the waiting room full for half an hour before those times start,” said Hussey.
“Community legal workers at Dalhousie Legal Aide help people with income assistance and residential tenancies. It used to be that our client mix was about half and half [but] in the last year or two it’s almost 100 percent residential tenancies.”
Hussey has noticed an increasing number of her clients are older than 55. They often have been in the same building for 10-15 years and now are struggling to remain in their homes. Hussey has an active caseload of 40 clients who are involved in a residential tenancy process.
“It feels like the last few months have really intensified,” said Hussey. “I don’t know exactly what the issue is but I have a cluster of hearings in December that is much larger than what I was dealing with a few months ago.”
Hussey has seen cases where she claims some landlords are trying to circumvent the rent cap, renovict tenants, or remove services that are part of the lease. She’s noticed a number of these cases happen when buildings change ownership–and ownership changes happen a lot in Halifax.
“It’s often that there’s a new owner and the new owner has different expectations or is interested in doing either a major renovation or really are looking for ways that they can circumvent that rent cap,” said Hussey.
Dalhousie Legal Aid recently called on the government to do more to protect tenants. The organization used an example of a North Street rooming house where the 20-30 tenants share a kitchen. Dalhousie claims the landlord removed the stove without notice, leaving tenants without a way to cook proper meals.
“For more than a week I didn’t have a kitchen to cook my meals because my landlord removed the stove without notice, but it’s really hard to speak up when you know your only other option is to go to a shelter,” said tenant Michael Belland in a news release.
Hussey says more people have no choice but to fight landlords when they have such issues. In a world where more housing was available, many would choose to move instead of deal with such a stressful situation. But for low-income renters in Halifax, there is nowhere to go.
“Regardless of whether or not what landlords are doing is right or wrong, people just don’t have options. So, they’re fighting to stay where they are,” said Hussey.
“Folks say that they’re afraid to ask for things to be repaired or they’re afraid to complain about anything because they don’t want to cause any trouble with the place where they are, even if the place where they are is kind of falling down.”
Dalhousie Legal Aid believes three major things must happen to protect renters in Nova Scotia: investment in more public and non-profit housing, active enforcement of the law regarding residential tenancies, and some form of permanent rent cap.
Hussey notes, however, that a permanent rent cap would have to be more flexible than the current two percent ceiling. In other jurisdictions with a permanent model, the cost of inflation, maintenance, and required renovations can all be factored into a rent increase.
“The 2 percent cap has been absolutely necessary. But it also doesn’t allow for the understanding that costs have gone up across the board. I understand that landlords also have costs and that’s put pressure on them. And what we’re seeing is desperation from property owners to be able to recoup their costs.”
Derek Montague is a Huddle reporter in Halifax. Send him your feedback and story ideas: [email protected].