Number of people homeless or at risk up substantially in parts of eastern Nova Scotia
Count finds more than 700 people at risk of or living homeless in Antigonish, Guysborough and Cape Breton
The number of people at risk from homelessness — or actually living without a home — in eastern Nova Scotia has risen substantially over the last three years.
Several community organizations in Antigonish and Guysborough counties and all five municipalities on Cape Breton Island joined forces with Cape Breton University this summer to conduct the first count since 2021.
They found a 72 per cent increase in homelessness, which included 719 adults and 174 children in need of help with housing.
CBU professor Catherine Leviten-Reid, a member of the Affordable Housing and Homelessness Working Group, which includes non-profit and government agencies in Cape Breton, said the size of the increase came as a surprise, despite the recent opening of new Pallet shelter village and the homeless shelter in downtown Sydney being full almost every night.
"All these things said to me, 'Yes, we're going to see an increase,' but I wasn't expecting a jump from 419 adults to 719 adults in three years," she said.
According to the working group, homelessness includes those with no shelter at all, those in emergency shelters or temporarily housed, people in an institution with nowhere to go when released and people who are at risk because of precarious finances or substandard housing.
Biggest jump in people at risk
Leviten-Reid said the latest count found an increase in every category.
The biggest jump was in people at risk, but the next largest category is those with no shelter living in a car or tent.
Many factors contributed to the rise in homelessness, including demand for rental units, the pandemic and inflation, she said.
Since 2015, the working group has been making the same recommendations for more affordable housing, increased financial aid for people with low incomes and more funding for support organizations to help people find housing.
Leviten-Reid said about half of the people in the homelessness count are challenged by substance use or mental illness, so more supportive housing is needed like the Eleanor's Court project, which is a 25-unit building under construction by New Dawn Enterprises in downtown Sydney.
Residents there will have 24-hour support, including financial aid and health services, but it's only a start, Leviten-Reid said.
"Just in the Cape Breton Regional Municipality, we need 10 more of those projects."
Government help not enough
She welcomed recent federal funding to build more affordable housing and increased income support from the Nova Scotia government, but said those are not enough.
"All of these things are just small measures," said Leviten-Reid. "We need to be thinking big about how to eliminate homelessness in the province."
Alyce MacLean, director of properties and development with affordable housing provider New Dawn, said she was not surprised by the increase in homelessness, but called it "devastating" nonetheless.
New Dawn and the Ally Centre expect to open the supportive housing project soon and recently opened 35 Pallet shelters.
But MacLean said the latest numbers show 58 people with no housing at all in CBRM.
"My goal is to solve that issue, solve anyone sleeping rough and that feels absolutely attainable."
She said there are a wide range of ways people can be homeless or at risk of homelessness and while building more affordable housing will help, there need to be more solutions to help prevent homelessness.
"If we got $20 million and I could build more buildings, that would be amazing and I would do that tomorrow," MacLean said.
"However, I certainly acknowledge that there are all sorts of organizations who can provide different types of housing and serve different populations across different parts of the housing spectrum and they also deserve lots of support."
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