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Monday 9am - 4:30pm Tuesday 9am - 4:30pm Wednesday 9am - 4:30pm Thursday 9am - 4:30pm Friday 9am - 4:30pm

Dalhousie Legal Aid Service, 500/5991 Spring Garden Road, Halifax, NS (2026)

10/06/2026

🏘️ Housing in the News: "Opinion | Waterloo Region blew $1.7 million of our money on legal fees as it tried to evict homeless people"

Two recent reports show that Waterloo Region spent nearly $1.9 million on legal efforts to clear out a single tent encampment. The costs include almost $1.7 million paid to a Toronto law firm, more than $27,000 in legal costs for encampment residents, and another $168,842 spent on an earlier legal fight over the same site. These figures do not include staff time, policing, outreach, or cleanup.

Part of this was because Legal Aid societies in Waterloo brought a constitutional challenge to the region’s encampment bylaw and its attempt to clear the site. The court eventually sided with encampment residents, finding that it was against people's Charter rights for the government to evict people from the site without providing somewhere else for them to go. The government is now spending even more money appealing that decision.

What could nearly $1.9 million and countless municipal staff hours have accomplished if it had been spent on housing, safer shelter options, or other supports instead of legal fights against our most vulnerable?

This is also a question for Nova Scotia. The provincial government here recently fought a long legal battle against people living in encampments to deny unhoused people a higher rate of Income Assistance. This summer, the courts ruled against the government and stated that people living in tents should get this higher rate. After this court decision, they quickly changed the laws to ensure that unhoused people didn't get this extra money or funding like the disability top-up.

The Waterloo case raises the question: is spending taxpayer money on legal battles really what's in the public interest? How much has Nova Scotia spent on legal fees fighting to give people in encampments the bare minimum? How much of that money could have been spent simply giving people the increase, or providing supports to ensure that people can get out of encampments and into homes?

📰 You can read more at the Waterloo Region Record

10/02/2026

🏘️ International Housing News: “Spain announces plan to ease housing crisis amid outcry over eviction of 87-year-old”

Spain’s government has approved a package of measures aimed at addressing the country’s housing crisis, following public outrage over the eviction of 87-year-old Maricarmen Abascal, a disabled tenant who was removed from her Madrid home on a stretcher.

The proposed measures, which still need approval from Congress, include restrictions on evictions of vulnerable tenants until 2030, regulating temporary and room rentals, extending some expiring rental agreements, and temporarily preventing large investment funds from purchasing property.

The measures come after hundreds of housing protesters camped in Madrid’s Puerta del Sol, demanding stronger tenant protections, including rent freezes and automatic lease renewals without unaffordable rent increases.

Abascal’s case shows the real-life consequences of a housing system where rising rents put long-term tenants at risk of eviction. Her landlord - a private investment fund - had increased her rent by 230% to €1,650/month. Following the protests, the company offered to let her return at a rent capped at 30% of her income, which she accepted.

The issues raised in Spain will sound familiar to Nova Scotia renters, where investment firms and REITs own the majority of rental units. Here, fixed-term leases leave tenants facing uncertainty about whether they will be able to remain in their homes, while the province’s rent cap does not prevent rents from rising when a tenancy ends, and is set to expire in 2027.

As rents continue to rise faster than many people’s incomes, the question is not only how much housing gets built, but whether renters have meaningful security in the homes they already live in.

Spain is now considering stronger protections against displacement and unfair rent increases. What could Nova Scotia learn from the debate over housing security happening elsewhere?

📰 You can read more from The Guardian.

10/01/2026

🧡 Child Welfare in the News: “Why children in government care face a higher risk of sexual exploitation”

A new CBC investigation looks at the heightened risk of sexual exploitation faced by children in government care in Nova Scotia. The article is part of “Left Behind,” a series from the CBC examining the experiences and outcomes of children in government care. DLAS does dozens of child welfare cases each year.

This investigation centres in part on the experience of Kyesha Boudreau, who spent part of her childhood in roughly 12 foster homes before living in group homes as a teenager. She told CBC that the instability and lack of connection she experienced left her vulnerable to people offering the attention and affection she was missing.

Boudreau describes seeing a man repeatedly appear outside her group home, offering girls drugs and alcohol and inviting them to his apartment. She said some of her friends were sexually exploited by him, and that reports to group home staff were met with the response that the girls had put themselves at risk.

The Department of Opportunities and Social Development says staff act on every report of sexual exploitation and trafficking. Nova Scotia has the highest rate of police-reported human trafficking incidents in Canada.

The investigation also looks at how traffickers can target youth in care by exploiting unmet needs for safety, stability, affection and trusted relationships. Senior Crown attorney Katie Lovett told CBC that traffickers may use gifts, social media and relationships to gradually build trust and control.

The experiences described in this investigation show why children in government care need stable placements, trusted adults, and meaningful supports. It is also important that families receive the supports they need to address the circumstances that brought children into care, so that family reunification can happen whenever possible.

📰 You can read more at the CBC

📞 If you or someone you know is experiencing human trafficking, the Canadian Human Trafficking Hotline is available 24/7 at 1-833-900-1010.

09/30/2026

Our office is closed on September 30th for National Day for Truth & Reconciliation. There are no intakes today. We will reopen on October 1st.

We encourage everyone to attend local events across Mi'kma'ki today:
🏛️ In the HRM: https://www.halifax.ca/about-halifax/diversity-inclusion/indigenous-services/national-day-truth-reconciliation
🏢At Dalhousie University: https://www.dal.ca/about/mission-vision-values/equity-diversity-inclusion-and-accessibility/about-office-equity-inclusion/events-campaigns-speaker-series/national-day-for-truth-and-reconciliation.html
🧡 With Every One Every Day: https://www.halifaxiseveryone.ca/sessions/reconciliation-day-powwow

09/29/2026

🏘️ Housing in the News: “How Nova Scotia became Canada's most expensive province for average asking rents”

A new Canadian Press report looks at why Nova Scotia now has the highest average asking rents in Canada. According to Rentals.ca and Urbanation, NS overtook BC in May and held that position for four straight months, with average asking rent reaching $2,356 in August. Rents in NS are up 3.1% from last year, while rents across Canada fell by 4.8%.

The article also highlights StatsCan research on who owns rental housing in NS. According to StatsCan, in Nova Scotia institutional investors own the largest share of investment properties among the six provinces studied - in every other province, individuals owned the largest share.

Mark Culligan from DLAS, points to the fixed-term lease system and 5% rent cap as two big problems. Unlike in many other provinces, tenants in Nova Scotia have no right to renew a fixed-term lease. When the lease ends, a landlord can choose not to renew and then rent the unit to someone new at a much higher price. The 5% cap is also the highest in Canada, and the only one not tied to real economic markers.

Scott Moulton, a Halifax real estate agent, points to another issue: "The Halifax peninsula is not that big and the infrastructure, traffic, everything is not that sophisticated. So we can only build up and that has to be concrete, that has to be a bigger engineering product." That makes it harder to build cheap housing, so new construction tends to target higher-income renters.

Kevin Russell of RHPNS (formerly IPOANS) argues that the 5% rent cap means landlords can't raise rents on tenants who are currently paying less. RHPNS has previously advocated for removing the rent cap entirely, arguing that allowing landlords to raise rents on existing tenants could eventually bring down asking rents for new tenants.

The result is a rental market where asking rents continue to rise, even as average asking rents are falling across Canada.

📰 You can read more at the Canadian Press

09/28/2026

🚨 NEW BLOG POST

What happens to your home when you lose your job as a live-in superintendent? When you're paid in free rent, how do you calculate severance?

A new article by senior law student Charles Lesperance, completed through the partnership between Dal Legal Aid and the Halifax WAC, takes an in-depth look at the legal issues facing live-in superintendents in Nova Scotia.

The article goes over three Nova Scotia cases in depth, including one that resulted in a Supreme Court of Canada decision in 2020. It explores the legal questions that can arise when a superintendent's employment ends, including the relationship between employment law and residential tenancy law, the legal status of different working arrangements, and how compensation and housing can intersect.

This research is especially useful for live-in superintendents who may be dealing with the end of their employment and questions about their housing. Importantly, the housing and employment issues are separate legal matters. Tenancy disputes generally go through the Residential Tenancies Program, while employment claims may go through Labour Standards or the courts.

If you're a live-in superintendent and you're facing issues with your job or housing, reach out to the Halifax WAC, Dalhousie Legal Aid, or both to learn more about your options!

🔗 You can read the full article at our blog: www.halifaxwac.ca/blog

09/28/2026

🧩 Child Welfare in the News: "Fear, sadness, and anger: Why children in N.S. government care frequently go missing"

A CBC investigation looks at the experiences of children in government care, and why so many are reported missing from NS group homes.

Between August 2025 and March 2026, the province recorded 491 incidents involving a child who went missing and was considered at “imminent risk.” With fewer than 150 children living in group homes, the numbers suggest that some children are being reported missing repeatedly.

For Grayson Balzan, leaving was about feeling safer outside the group home than inside it. He was 12 when he entered care and said he experienced bullying, and violence. After his childhood stuffed animal was taken and staff told him there was little they could do, he began leaving the home and spending time on buses, in parks and around Halifax. He continued running away from other homes he was placed in.

Ashley Coggins-Comeau estimates that staff reported her as “gone without permission” 20 to 30 times during her childhood. She said she often felt judged or blamed when she left, and struggled to trust the adults around her. Looking back, she believes she might have made different choices if she had been able to ask for help and guidance.

Both described being moved repeatedly between group homes, schools and social workers, making it difficult to form lasting relationships with adults they could trust.

The province says it is “deeply concerned” about the number of missing youth and has begun quarterly analysis of serious incidents. This is following criticism from the Auditor General that the weak oversight of youth homes in this province increases the risk of improper child care.

Dal Legal Aid does dozens of child welfare cases every year, and we're seen first-hand the impact on children and families that family separation can have. Our hope is that these insights can lead to larger overhaul of the province's child protection and group home system, with more resources in place to keep kids safe and families together. As Coggins-Comeau said: “We all deserve better, and hopefully people start listening.”

📰 You can read more at the CBC

09/25/2026

🏘️ Housing in the News: “New Glasgow homeless shelter claims funding cut a day after it refused to kick out resident who committed crime against ‘influential family in Pictou County’”

The province has announced that funding for Northstar Shelter and Support Services in New Glasgow will end in 90 days, despite the shelter currently supporting 20 residents and working with hundreds of people experiencing homelessness or housing insecurity in Pictou County.

The timing of the decision is raising serious questions. Northstar’s executive director, Lisa Deyoung, says the province asked the shelter to remove a resident who had recently been released from corrections. When the shelter refused, she says, its funding was cut the following day.

The province disputes that the funding decision was connected to any individual or incident, saying it is part of a broader plan to create new supportive housing services in Pictou County and elsewhere. The province says a transition team will help current shelter residents find alternative housing and supports.

But as Deyoung points out, if housing could be found for these people within three months, “it would have happened long before.”

That is the central issue. Nova Scotia cannot simply close or defund emergency housing and assume that alternative housing will materialize on a 90-day timeline, particularly when the province is already facing a severe shortage of affordable and supportive housing.

We are extremely concerned about what these shelter closures mean for people experiencing homelessness, particularly as winter approaches. We are also increasingly concerned that the province may be creating a pattern of suddenly closing or defunding shelters with little notice, little justification, and no clear alternative living arrangements in place for the people who rely on them.

People experiencing homelessness need safe places to live now. Closing the door first and promising to find somewhere else later is not a housing strategy.

📰 You can read more at The Chronicle Herald.

09/24/2026

Hi everyone! A quick heads up about another tenants rights session coming up on October 13th. If you haven't been to one of these sessions before, it's a great way to get information and advice from experts on your rights as a tenant. Knowledge is power!

09/23/2026

🚨 Listen to Staff Lawyer Nadia Shivji speak to Public Bills on the Public Safety Bill this government passed last week.

The government passed amendments that would significantly expand the powers available under the Safer Communities and Neighbourhoods Act (SCAN), legislation that already disproportionately targets low-income, marginalized, and vulnerable communities.

The proposed changes raise concerns about the use of government investigations and surveillance without meaningful oversight and the presumption of innocence. They also create potential risks in landlord-tenant disputes and domestic violence situations, where SCAN processes have been known to be used to facilitate eviction without due process or coercive control.

Similar legislation has already faced successful constitutional challenges, and has been struck down by other provinces.

Dalhousie Legal Aid Service

10/06/2026

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