Story by Journalism Intern Paige Dillman
HALIFAX: The N.S. NDP is looking for answers after a recent Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy (FOIPOP) request showed the Houston government had underpaid Nova Scotians on their rental supplements.
Suzy Hansen, Housing Critic for the NSNDP, says this incident shows that the government isn’t making housing a priority.
“Nova Scotians who need support to afford their housing are being left behind because of confusion over how to calculate rents in certain areas,” Hansen told The Laker News.
She says those who get rent supplements need to know when to expect this kind of help and how much they can count on.
ADVERTISEMENT:
The NSNDP says that the Houston government needs to ensure the rent supplement program is working as intended and helping the Nova Scotians who need it.
“They also need to address the root causes of the housing crisis and the fixed-term lease loophole, implement real rent control, and create stronger renter protections to ensure every renter can have a stable place to live that they can afford,” Hansen says.
Amy Wagg, Spokesperson for the Department of Growth and Development, says the former Department of Municipal Affairs and Housing requested that EY conduct an audit to help them with ongoing improvements to the program.
The audit showed that East Hants and Timberlea were receiving subsidies based on a lower Average Market Rent.
“After the review, both areas were re-categorized and associated with the appropriate average market rent,” Wagg says.
ADVERTISEMENT:
After all this, all clients subject to this review had their subsidies increased.
That’s when clients were made aware of the increase.
“The EY review found that staff were relying on a manual process that resulted in this error,” said Wagg.
“Since that time, we have updated the process so that it is automated to the correct AMR.”
After this, the increase was absorbed within the program budget.
