A Halifax-area couple are calling on the municipality to be more flexible in helping families create affordable housing, after facing roadblocks in building a secondary suite.
For several months now, Josh Powell and Mandy Brown have been trying to secure a new place for their family to live. They and their two young children are currently renting a home in Sackville, but were recently told their landlord is selling the property.
“If someone comes in and buys the house we’re living in tomorrow we could be evicted by next month. And then what do we do?” Powell said.
Powell’s parents live in the Waverley-Fall River area of HRM and have a large enough lot to accommodate a secondary suite.
“They said, ‘You know what? You’re in this situation. You can come build on our lot.’ So I said, ‘OK, that’s great.’ So we checked it out and our two options were to either do a backyard suite or subdivide and build,” he said.
The couple broke down the prices and discovered building a three-bedroom mini home would be more cost-effective than paying around $2,400 a month on rent, keeping in mind that finding a home to rent was difficult, in and of itself.
But then, there was a wrench in their plans.
“Those mini homes come pre-made in about 1,184 square feet. Now, the bylaws only allow for 968 square feet, which, again, is only about a 220-square-feet difference. But nonetheless, we applied and that was a no-go,” Powell said.
He says they were told by the municipality their only option was to subdivide the land, but due to the location of municipal sewer and water services, “we couldn’t do that.”
Instead of being able to use a pre-fabricated home, the couple are looking at having to design their own — which could take up to a year or more to get built.
In a statement, HRM told Global News backyard suites are limited to 968 square feet in size, but through the federal Housing Accelerator Fund, council recently approved a change to allow up to 1,000 square feet.
That’s still not enough space for this family.
Brown points out that pre-fabricated homes that have three bedrooms aren’t designed to fit within those size limits.
“It should not be unacceptable for people to have the number of bedrooms that they need. And I think it’s ridiculous to be told that it’s unreasonable to want that,” she said.
“We need to have enough space for the people in our family. And that just happens to be three bedrooms. And apparently, that happens to be 1,184 square feet, not 968.”
The couple says until the bylaws change, the municipality remains out of touch with the current housing situation.
“Let’s be real, I think that our social and political and economic climate has changed quite a bit since 2020. So I’m really not sure who is in charge of amending these, but they need to wake up,” Brown said.
Strong interest in secondary suites
Meantime, the province is reporting a strong interest in its backyard and secondary suites incentive program, with 205 applications submitted and 105 approved so far.
In April, Nova Scotia increased the forgivable loan offered to people who build secondary or backyard suites on their property from $25,000 to $40,000.
The forgivable loan is worth up to 50 per cent of eligible costs or $40,000, whichever is less. The loan can cover the costs of materials, permits and labour.
As well, the province expanded the list of those eligible to live in and build the secondary units.
Minister Affairs and Housing Minister John Lohr told Global News the province is making a big investment in building public housing — while this secondary suite program helps reach “a segment of the population that we don’t have a lot of programs (for).”
“We don’t have a lot of programs that really tap into that area. So this is an incredibly important program to us,” he said. “We’re very pleased at the success of it.”
Lohr agreed there’s room for more flexibility from municipalities and it’s something the province has been discussing with them.
“We have indicated to them our commitment to this program and ask them to look at not only this bylaw — the bylaws that relate to secondary suites — but all of their bylaws and how they relate to housing,” he said.
For Powell and Brown, bylaws need to be updated sooner rather than later.
“It’s either something needs to change or you’re going to have a lot more tents out on the street,” Brown said.
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