Dal Legal Aid raises concerns about access to eviction data following info request

Officials with Dalhousie Legal Aid Service say the results of recent freedom of information requests heighten long-standing concerns they've had that the provincial government affords them less access than it does the group that represents Nova Scotia's landlords.

The organization released documents last week showing that for years, Rental Housing Providers Nova Scotia has received data related to why evictions were sought in disputes between tenants and landlords.

Sydnee Blum, a community legal worker with Dal Legal Aid, said that data is something her organization has been trying to get since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. She said some of it was accessible through the freedom of information system, but that should not have been a requirement.

"We only ever went through that process because we were told that's what we had to do," Blum said in an interview. "We didn't realize that simply sending an email asking for stats would have resulted in the same results."

Since Dal Legal Aid publicized the findings last week, Blum said Service Nova Scotia forwarded the same information that was going to Rental Housing Providers Nova Scotia.

Melissa Mosher, the director of residential tenancies for the province, said in an interview that there was no attempt to withhold information or disadvantage one organization over another.

Mosher said statistics on evictions are produced each week and, during a meeting with stakeholders in 2017 that included representatives for landlords and Dal Legal Aid, it was explained that that information was available. Although the executive director of Rental Housing Providers Nova Scotia has been routinely requesting the information via email, Mosher said Dal Legal Aid has not.

"It's not something that I reach out to them to provide them with," she said. "It's more so at request."

Mosher said the department is contending with an antiquated information system that makes it difficult to produce data without extracting it manually. Although a new system is being developed, it's still not ready.

Meeting requests honoured by Service Nova Scotia

She said there have been discussions with Dal Legal Aid officials in the past about what kind of information is and isn't available, what requires a freedom of information request and what can be released in keeping with privacy legislation.

A meeting for further discussion between the two sides is scheduled for later this week.

"I want the tenant and landlord groups equally to feel that they can approach us with questions."

But Blum said previous attempts by people at Dal Legal Aid to understand what information and data is collected by Service Nova Scotia and what can be requested have not been successful.

"We've never been given a clear answer, let alone the data itself."

Blum said she remains concerned that the government is more interested in listening to the interests of landlords and homeowners than they are those of tenants.

Difficulty accessing decision makers

Dal Legal Aid also highlighted an email in its disclosure package where Mosher notes that representatives for landlords "have the ability to meet with senior leadership within government that the tenant groups do not typically have."

Mosher, who was responding to a request from the landlords group to bring more representatives to a stakeholders meeting than the department would permit, said her comments referred to the fact that there is only one group that speaks for landlords while there are multiple groups that advocate for tenants.

She said her team typically meets with groups on behalf of tenants and landlords when requested.

Blum said her organization has no problem meeting with administrators with residential tenancies, but it's proved more difficult getting an audience with cabinet ministers and other decision makers within government.

"Frankly, over the years we've stopped even trying just because it's been inaccessible to us."