Public housing tenants in Spryfield threaten rent strike

Some residents of public housing in the Greystone Drive neighbourhood of the Halifax community of Spryfield have put out renewed calls for a rent strike because longstanding issues have not been resolved.

In July, tenants in social housing approached the provincial Metropolitan Regional Housing Authority with a list of issues that included vermin, mould, cracked windows and doors that wouldn't close, promising a strike if their concerns weren't met.

The strike was put on hold after the authority committed to take quick action on the issues.

But this week tenants put out renewed calls for a strike, saying that those commitments had not been met.

'It's not healthy'

Jodi Brown moved into housing on Greystone Drive in January.

At the time, she said, her unit stank of cat urine, and there were patches of mould, water leaks and birds plaguing her apartment.

"The majority of the residents up [on Greystone Drive] have birds right now in their vents," she told CBC's Information Morning on Tuesday.

"There's no mesh, so the birds are coming and going freely into the vents. A lot of them actually have nests. It's not healthy."

Not enough staff

There are currently two maintenance staff people for Greystone's 250 units.

"They do not have the staff to carry out the maintenance work," said Brown.

Brown said she hopes a rent strike will help residents who feel they're ignored by the provincial government get essential repairs.

Rent goes into trust

Early this week, tenants began knocking on doors to find participants for the strike. On Tuesday their concerns were compiled so that they could be submitted to the housing authority.

Once the housing authority receives the list of those issues, it has 30 days to address them before tenants can submit a complaint to the tenancy board. The board can then order the landlord — in this case, the housing authority — to do repairs.

Tenants are allowed to withhold rent from the authority while the complaint is being assessed, or, if the complaint is deemed valid, until the repairs are made. But Brown said tenants will still be paying someone.

"I don't want anybody to stop paying their rent.," she said. "Our rent goes into trust rather than [the housing] authority."

'High level of frustration'

The MLA for the area, Liberal Brendan Maguire, said he supports the strike, and this week he joined tenants knocking on doors in the neighbourhood.

"There's a high level of frustration," he said. "The stories we're hearing are heartbreaking."

The Department of Community Services said in a statement that they're working to resolve issues as quickly as possible, including hiring contractors to improve waste disposal and hiring more maintenance staff to conduct interior repairs.

Maguire said more funding has recently been allocated to housing, but that that can be cold comfort to those with longstanding issues. Nonetheless, he said the relationship between the housing authority and tenants is improving.

"It's not just fixing the mould in an apartment," he said. "It's when you're in there, being respectful to [tenants]. So we need to not just fix the issues, but we need to rebuild the trust that was there, and I think we're on the right road."

Measure of last resort

For her part, Brown said her concerns have been addressed. Last week, she was moved into a unit that's in better condition.

But she said other residents continue to face serious problems, some of which have been going on for years. The rent strike is a collective measure of last resort.

"We're going to do this as a whole group and I'm hoping that the community will catch on, that we can do this at [other public housing in Halifax] and continue across Nova Scotia."