March 24, 2021
SUSAN LEBLANC: Mr. Speaker, nearly a year ago during the first wave of the pandemic, the Province brought in a temporary eviction ban for those who have lost income due to COVID‑19. This ban made sense. No one should be evicted due to a loss of income during a global pandemic. In fact, no one should be evicted during a pandemic at all. After all, one cannot stay home if one doesn’t have a home to stay in. The eviction ban was lifted at the end of June. Since then, my office has been supporting several people who are being evicted during the second wave of the pandemic due to an inability to pay rent. In some cases, they cannot pay rent because their work hours have been cut or they have been laid off due to the pandemic. Time and time again, the people who have stepped up to help these folks raise the money to stay in their homes are churches, benevolent funds, and not‑for‑profits. Folks scramble to these organizations and if they are lucky, each one helps with a few hundred dollars and, of course, we know that not everyone is getting the help they need. In HRM alone, right now there are 200 homeless people at least. The government should not be reliant on charitable gifts to keep their citizens housed during a pandemic. A full eviction ban needs to be a part of this government’s response to COVID‑19.