After months of consultations with Realtors, elected municipal officials, staff, stakeholders and other organizations, the Nova Scotia Association of Realtors recently issued a call to action on affordable housing.
“We all play a part in finding solutions to our housing crisis,” says Roger Boutilier, CEO of NSAR. “Realtors understand that housing is a spectrum. If one area of our housing spectrum is unhealthy, the whole spectrum suffers. That’s why we need to implement changes like increasing long-term care beds, allowing more in-law and backyard suites, increasing housing for low-to-mid-range incomes and ensuring that we build whole communities where Nova Scotians can find a home no matter their income, life stage or family make-up.”
NSAR’s comprehensive proposal was submitted to Nova Scotia’s Affordable Housing Commission.
Highlights of the report include a call for municipalities and the province to work more closely on housing issues, increases to NSCC’s trades programs to meet new building demand and reduction of red tape to encourage more new builds.
“Nova Scotians are resilient, creative and caring people,” says Boutilier. “We have an amazing quality of life, but we risk losing that if we continue down this path. We have ideas that can help put our province on the right track – ensuring that every Nova Scotian has a place to call home.
“This submission was created with input from across the province. We reached out to community leaders to see, first-hand, what the state of housing was in their communities and what we could do to help.”
NSAR represents more than 1,600 brokers, salespeople and affiliate members throughout the province.
