Halifax's new mayor, Andy Fillmore, claims the city is past the worst of its homelessness crisis, but advocates strongly disagree. Fillmore cites new shelters and housing options, while homelessness organizations report growing numbers and a continued need for support.
HALIFAX — The worst of Halifax's homeless crisis is over, says the city's new mayor, who wants to see encampments closed as quickly as possible — even as homelessness advocates vigorously disagree that the situation is improving. Andy Fillmore, elected mayor Oct. 19 after resigning over the summer as Liberal MP for Halifax, says the city is coming out the other side of its dire housing shortage because of the new shelter and housing options available.
“I have great hopes that we, together with the province, are going to solve this housing crisis,” he said in a recent interview. Nova Scotia funds 390 shelter beds in Halifax, with 40 more expected this winter. Additionally, since 2023 the province has opened an 185-unit transitional shelter in Halifax run by Adsum for Women and Children, and has established 50 single-occupancy shelters in the municipality, with 85 more planned for the area. The Affordable Housing Association of Nova Scotia says that as of Dec. 10, 1,238 people in the Halifax Regional Municipality reported they were homeless. That figure does not include the more than 200 children who are homeless and receive support from Adsum, said Sheri Lecker, the group's executive director. It's'misinformed,' Lecker said, to say that the peak of the housing shortage has passed.'It's damaging to repeat this narrative that the worst of things are behind us … the numbers are growing,' she said in an interview. Adsum, which has historically focused on women and children but is currently supporting all genders, provides permanent housing for about 100 people, oversees another 200 people in shelter beds, and offers emergency housing units and hotel rooms to more than 300 people — including 217 children. 'We are receiving calls, knocks on the door and so on, every day, and we have to turn people away.' Fillmore's view, Lecker added,'is not a reflection of what we are seein
HOMELESSNESS HALIFAX MAYOR HOUSING CRISIS SHELTER
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