The past two weeks has really revealed a lot about the imbalances in what we call “the economy.” In Nova Scotia, Tim Houston’s government continues to trample on human rights, pass major bills without meaningful debate, and take over decision-making bodies.
His latest decision is frankly Dickensian. Houston’s government has decided that people experiencing homelessness cannot receive income assistance.
Read that again.
People who have no home cannot access government funding that aims to keep them alive and functioning.
The government made this change in income assistance regulations because a year ago, the NS Supreme Court decided that a man did not meet the existing requirements for enhanced income assistance because he lived in a tent. That decision was overturned by the NS Court of Appeals on August 5th. That man, Bradley Lowe, died in 2023 and his family asked his lawyer, Vince Calderhead, to keep up the fight. Since Lowe argued that he owned his accommodation (a tent), the NS government amended their regulations to remove the term “accommodation” and substitute it with “lives in a home,” and also repealed the prior definition for “home” and defines it as a self-contained unit someone rents or owns, a room in a lodging house or a single-occupancy room in a building.
CBC noted that currently, there are 1,182 people receiving the essential income assistance rate (for single people without dependents who do not own or rent a home) of $410/month. The rate for renters is $655/month and for homeowners $738 (CBC, Michael Garman and Taryn Grant, August 26, 2026 and Government of Nova Scotia). The enhanced rate, which Lowe applied for on the grounds of his disability, is $1,022/month.
Nova Scotia, which has the highest disability rates in the country, among the least affordable rents and highest rent increases in the past five years, and over 2,000 people experiencing homelessness, just cut off benefits for the most vulnerable people in our communities. Calderhead is quoted as saying that the province could have allowed people living in tents to have a slightly improved standard of living, “or they could rewrite the law, pushing people desperately down into desperate poverty, and they chose the second route.” (CTV News, The Canadian Press, August 26, 2026) Presumably because we have a projected deficit this year and that is a bigger problem than people living–and dying–on our streets.
In fact, this year’s provincial budget included over $300 M in cuts to services. Libraries in the province haven’t received an increase in funding since 2019. Two months ago there was a public outcry over the closing of five branches in the Annapolis Valley (Hantsport, Kentville, Lawrencetown, Port Williams and Middleton); libraries in the province can no longer support themselves through municipal and provincial funding, and are increasingly turning to fundraising. Into this lowering sky, local hero and bestselling author Rachel Reid shone a beam of sunlight, donating $300,000 to the Annapolis Valley Regional Library to keep its branches running for this fiscal year. Notably, Reid said that,
“I had to do it because I don’t know what the point is of being a successful author in Nova Scotia if you’re not going to use it for good…A lot of those books are what initially inspired me to be an author. Even into adulthood, that’s where I started reading romance novels.”
Reid’s Heated Rivalry may not have come into existence without the critical meeting place of local public libraries, which she says should be supported by government funding. A Halifax native, Reid’s bio says “She lives in Nova Scotia, Canada. She has always lived there, and it’s looking like she probably always will.” Her contributions to the province are already substantial, with the first two books from her Game Changers series adapted into one of the hottest (in every sense) streaming series ever released on Crave. She was already slated to do a fundraising event at the AVRL this summer before she made her substantial donation.
Just a week later after Reid’s stunning donation made headlines, the world lost a one of a kind philanthropist, the great Dolly Parton. Her Imagination Library has given away millions of books to children–including 28 million books in her home state of Tennessee and 3 million to kids in Canada. Parton’s extensive commitments to her state, local neighbourhoods, and the hospital where she died were well documented. Time and time again, she stepped in where the state failed: supporting families with unconditional monthly payments when devastating wildfires swept Tennessee in 2016, donating $1 million to Vanderbilt University as they developed the Moderna COVID-19 vaccine, and helping to improve pediatric care at local hospitals. Because “the economy” doesn’t favour helping people or organizations in need.
We need philanthropists–and we always will. But should these generous individuals be expected to fill the gaps of governments, who refuse to spend money to support our most vulnerable citizens? Because those are the people who need free books, libraries, publicly funded hospitals and schools. And a roof over their heads that isn’t a tarp. Shame on Houston’s government for taking us back to a time when we simply abandoned people who could not support themselves. Even if the decision to withhold support from people living in tents wasn’t immoral, the reasoning behind it certainly would be.
