Tories say housing woes have gotten worse, accuse Liberals of failing to fix crisis
Newfoundland and Labrador Opposition leader Tony Wakeham says the province's social housing numbers are trending in the wrong direction, and he's accusing the Liberal government of mismanagement.
"There's been a housing crisis in our province for some time now and I wanted to get a handle on exactly what's been happening," Wakeham told reporters at Confederation Building on Tuesday afternoon.
"And I'm surprised and disappointed to review those statistics from Newfoundland and Labrador Housing and find out that it's gotten worse."
The Tories filed access-to-information requests for updated social housing wait-list data and the number of vacant units.
As of mid-November, the queue to get into a Newfoundland and Labrador Housing Corporation unit had jumped to 2,977, compared with 2,352 in March — a rise of 27 per cent.
And the number of vacant social housing units edged up to 307, an increase of more than five per cent.
"Almost 3,000 families that are waiting for a housing unit in this province need to know when they can expect to get an answer, need to know what the status is on those units that are up for repairs right now," Wakeham said.
"We know they've announced more units to be built, but we all know the fiasco when they didn't even know how many they had built, and the confusion that caused people."
Vacant Newfoundland and Labrador Housing Corporation units in Corner Brook are shown in a September file photo. (Colleen Connors/CBC)
Wakeham cited a recent CBC Investigates story that fact-checked the housing minister's claims about the province building 750 new homes in the past two years. The actual number of new social housing units was 11.
In a press release issued Wednesday afternoon, the Newfoundland and Labrador Housing Corporation pointed to what it called "significant progress" made in repairs and renovations.
Specifically, the NLHC referred to 143 provincially owned units that were identified for repairs in a request for quotations in October.
According to the housing corporation, work is done on 62 of them and in progress on another 56.
"With over 80 per cent of these additional renovations either complete or underway, we have shown our government's commitment to moving forward rapidly on actions that will increase the availability of affordable housing in Newfoundland and Labrador," Social Development Minister Paul Pike said in a statement.
All 143 units are projected to be finished by the end of February.
The NLHC noted that number is over and above the standard repair and renovation process.
Liberals announced 5-point plan this fall
In mid-October, just before the legislature reconvened for its fall session, Premier Andrew Furey announced a five-point plan to address what he called an "acute crisis" in housing.
It includes:
A low-interest financing program to help construct rental housing or convert other buildings into rentals.
Making government-owned land and buildings available.
A home ownership assistance program to help first-time homebuyers.
A pilot project to help homeowners convert part of their home into apartments for rental use.
Reconfirmation of removing the GST/HST on new rental housing builds.
"Making housing more affordable for hard-working people in Newfoundland and Labrador is a key," Furey said at the time.
But the Tory leader said those efforts aren't enough.
Wakeham pointed to a CBC report from earlier this week about the costs of accommodating travel nurses — and the impact that is having on others looking for places to stay.
The province's health authority spent $2.5 million in eight months to house travel nurses.
Wakeham says the government is competing with families looking for private rental homes.
"They're paying above-market rates to keep these units for agency nurses when they need them," the PC leader said.
"The same units that individuals in our province, right across this province of ours, are looking to occupy but aren't available because of our failure on our health-care system, our failure to retain our own nurses and keep them employed."
He said the Tories, if they were to form government, would bring forward a new housing plan with "transparency and accountability."
Download our free CBC News app to sign up for push alerts for CBC Newfoundland and Labrador. Click here to visit our landing page.
