Nova Scotia Premier Tim Houston arrives to take part in the first minister meeting at the National War Museum in Ottawa on Friday, March 21, 2025. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Sean Kilpatrick
skpHALIFAX - A Nova Scotia home-sharing program that was billed as a tool to help address the housing shortage fell far short of the government's initial target, documents released by the province show.
In an email shared as part of a freedom of information request made by a member of the public, a housing strategist for Nova Scotia confirmed the province鈥檚 target was 500 active homeowners with tenants in the program.
It wound up delivering 60 leases over two years and cost $1.35 million.
The program was announced in August 2023 as a way to help people find affordable housing by partnering with a non-profit organization called Happipad that operates an online home-sharing platform.
Premier Tim Houston has said he wished the program鈥檚 results had been better, but that the partnership was a success to the 60 people who found a place to rent through the platform.
Colton LeBlanc, Minister of the Department of Growth and Development, which oversees housing, repeated the government鈥檚 line when asked following a cabinet meeting Thursday whether taxpayers got value for money.
鈥淵ou look back at 2022-2023 and we were at a time when vacancy is much lower than it is now and housing starts were not where they are now,鈥 said LeBlanc. 鈥淭he fact is 60 Nova Scotians were able to find a safe and affordable place to call home.鈥
The minister said the government would have spent much more than it did on the platform to build housing for the 60 people who benefited from the Happipad program.
鈥淭hat platform, which is an intermediary, is not for everyone, but having a safe place for Nova Scotians to call home, I think that鈥檚 a success.鈥
But Opposition NDP Leader Claudia Chender said the government鈥檚 defence of Happipad 鈥渕akes no sense at all.鈥
鈥淗appipad was an absolute boondoggle and they need to take the loss frankly,鈥 Chender said. 鈥淭he reality is it was a waste of government money.鈥
In one of the emails released through freedom of information, a housing strategist for Nova Scotia confirmed the province鈥檚 target was 500 active hosts per year. The documents also included a proposal from Happipad that called for 500 homeowners actively hosting tenants by the end of the two-year program. That same number was repeated in the grant agreement signed by the province and Happipad.
The grant agreement said the two sides anticipated that the program would be self-sustaining by the end of the two-year term, stating that the $1.35 million would cover service fees for Nova Scotians who register on the app, marketing for the platform and the hiring of two staff based in the province to provide user support.
With 60 leases signed, the program wound up costing $22,500 per lease.
This report by 国产诱惑福利 was first published Sept. 18, 2025.
鈥 With files by Keith Doucette in Halifax
国产诱惑福利. All rights reserved.
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