African Nova Scotian housing strategy launched, but more funding still needed

Andrew Sampson · CBC News

· Posted: May 15, 2025 6:46 PM EDT | Last Updated: 5 minutes ago

An ambitious caller community-led lodging strategy that aims to summation entree to affordable housing for African Nova Scotians has been officially launched, but its semipermanent occurrence volition beryllium connected fiscal enactment from each levels of government.

The caller plan, which was unveiled by the Nova Scotia Black Community Housing Council astatine the Black Cultural Centre successful Cherry Brook, N.S., connected Thursday, is the effect of multiple years of probe and ongoing consultation with the African Nova Scotian community.

"This is simply a one-of-a-kind strategy that we've done," said Sunday Miller, person of the council.

"It's been enactment unneurotic by the Black assemblage for the Black community."

The lodging strategy, which can beryllium work successful full online, was funded by the provincial authorities and the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation, but developed by the assembly successful collaboration with SHS Consulting and the Black Planning Project.

It identifies four cardinal initiatives to help African Nova Scotians tackle the lodging crisis, including:

• The constitution of a assemblage slope to stitchery superior resources for caller lodging developments.
• The instauration of a assemblage onshore spot to get and steward land.
• The improvement of a lodging hub to enactment arsenic a cardinal assets for those looking for lodging support.
• The instauration of a caller toolkit to navigate the lodging improvement process.

The program besides recommends taking enactment to summation non-market lodging supply, support aging lodging stock and make divers lodging options to let radical to instrumentality to oregon enactment successful historic African Nova Scotian communities.

It drew upon the input and experiences of 197 African Nova Scotian assemblage members, done 18 workshops held successful Black communities crossed Nova Scotia, and a statistical information analysis.

Among different things, this probe recovered that African Nova Scotian households are much apt to rent compared to different households successful the province, and that the stock of African Nova Scotian households that rent alternatively of ain has been growing.

"It's time for radical of African Nova Scotia descent to person acceptable capable housing," said Miller.

More backing needed to instrumentality strategy

The province's Department of African Nova Scotian Affairs has fixed the lodging council $270,000 to prosecute an enforcement who tin assistance found a governance exemplary and statesman to prosecute imaginable funders, but Miller said importantly much fiscal enactment is needed to instrumentality the strategy.

"I genuinely judge determination should beryllium backing coming from federal, provincial and municipal to marque this happen," she said.

Speaking aft a furniture gathering connected Thursday, Colton LeBlanc, the province's curate of maturation and development, said he'd been briefed connected the strategy, but said no financial commitments person been made successful effect to the plan.

"We are arrogant supporters and arrogant funders of that study," said LeBlanc. "We stay astatine the array with the African Nova Scotian assemblage … and we volition proceed to enactment successful lockstep with them to code their lodging needs."

For much stories astir the experiences of Black Canadians — from anti-Black racism to occurrence stories wrong the Black assemblage — cheque retired Being Black successful Canada, a CBC task Black Canadians tin beryllium arrogant of. You tin work much stories here.

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