Halifax called on to crack down on decrepit, unlicenced rooming houses

Many of the city's most vulnerable residents are living in rooming house-type dwellings, not licensed by the city and where conditions are unsafe, say housing advocates.

A CBC Nova Scotia Investigation this week highlighted a number of buildings which fire and police officials describe as rooming houses, but are not registered with the city.

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That means they're not subject to annual inspections and don't have to comply with rules that demand they be safe, clean and warm.

Those buildings include an unlicensed residence at 2179 Gottingen St., that was condemned by the city last fall and is now vacant. 

Few options

Dalhousie Legal Aid community worker Evan Cool says the first reports he heard about the Gottingen Street address were "frankly unbelieveable."  

One unit "had a packed dirt floor, one window that didn't open and the only source of heat was a kerosene camping heater." He says the landlord was attempting to rent that unit for $600 a month.

When contacted by CBC this week, the owner, Hasan Yildiz, said not to phone again and hung up.

Cool says there are consistent concerns with many of the city's unregistered, defacto rooming houses.

"Plumbing, structural integrity, electricity, general maintenance, like pests. Bedbugs are becoming more and more of an issue in the city and if a landlord is negligent and doesn't attempt to nip these things in the bud when they come up, these problems just spread."

He says people living in the buildings have few options, when it comes to housing.   

Safe rooming houses needed

"People who've been criminalized, people with multiple disabilities, without much of a family or community support network, people with addictions, and people who are marginalized on the bases of race often, marginalized around being involved in sex work or drug use. Some of the most vulnerable people in our society," said Cool.

Claudia Jahn, with the Affordable Housing Association of Nova Scotia, says there are also problems in the south end of Halifax, in buildings rented to students.

"They have no locks on their doors. Or they have locks on their doors and there are really way too many people in one building to make it safe." 

The advocates say they'd like to see a revival of safe rooming houses in the city. They point out this was traditionally a respected form of housing, useful for single people who want a private room and shared amenities. 

Need and demand

They're urging the city to take away low-income housing from private sector providers and explore non-profit and cooperative solutions. 

"We have to be creative," says Jahn. "How can we create more affordable housing units in the city. Then we wouldn't have these problems. It's all about need and demand."

She says a partnership, involving representatives from the city and non-profit groups, is now looking at the problems related to rooming houses in Halifax. Among other things, they're discussing how best to revitalize rooming house stock in the city.

The city has acknowledged there is confusion surrounding the definition of a rooming house. It says it's working on new standards with the goal of having them in place by next year.