In the three years since Nova Scotia’s last election, rents and mortgage payments have risen, sticker shock has become a common experience at the grocery store, and homelessness has skyrocketed.

Tammy Brunet is one of many Nova Scotians grappling with these realities, and her experiences with housing and the rising cost of living now shape her interest – or rather apathy – in provincial politics.

Earlier this year, Brunet’s landlord told her she had to move out of her Halifax-area apartment at the end of a fixed-term lease, and that the next best place she could find was smaller and the rent was several hundred dollars more. The experience had harmful consequences.

“I don’t know if I’ll ever feel completely safe renting, knowing how easy it is for a landlord to decide, ‘You can go now because I want more money.'”

In the summer of 2021, when Nova Scotians last went to the polls, affordability was already a concern for many, and it was a topic of conversation and political debate, but not as much as it is today today in 2024.

In this early election campaign, each major party is integrating affordability into its discourse and trying to prove that it is the only one with the solutions. Brunet said that so far no one has convinced her and that unless they do, she won’t vote for anyone on election day next month.

Bills first, food later

Brunet said she prioritizes paying her rent, electric bill and phone bill, and keeps all other expenses to a minimum, even food. She works full time as an office manager and rent makes up about 50 percent of her income. She said she only eats hard-boiled eggs while her budget is particularly tight.

Brunet said her 23-year-old daughter, who lives with her, put her college studies on hold this fall so she could work full time and contribute more to their expenses.

The mother-daughter duo previously paid $1,417 a month for a three-bedroom apartment. Brunet said the landlord told him he was looking for $1,950 from the next tenant, an increase of almost 40 percent. They now pay $1,850 for a two-bedroom apartment.

Sam McPhee knows what it’s like to be stressed, financially and emotionally, because of housing. McPhee said she and her two daughters, aged six and eight, had spent several years bouncing between temporary accommodations, including stays with family and hotels, until McPhee received a phone call who changed his life.

After five years on the waiting list for public housing, he was offered a three-bedroom townhouse in Uniacke Square in Halifax.

“It was such a relief. It was like the weight of the world was lifted off my shoulders,” she said.

McPhee’s rent is now calculated each year based on her income to ensure she pays no more than 30 percent of her income. McPhee, who works part-time at McDonald’s and babysits, pays $259 in rent.

Grocery prices are ‘out of this world’

But even with safe, affordable housing, McPhee still has reason to worry about money.

“Electricity is of course a huge expense, as are groceries, which are absolutely out of this world right now,” she said.

McPhee said she has changed the way she shops to account for rising costs. Items she once considered cheap, like canned dumplings, are now luxury goods that she only buys if they’re on sale. She supplements her grocery purchases with visits to the food bank and a monthly food basket she receives from a family resource center in her neighborhood.

McPhee said it can be difficult to make ends meet, but she manages — which she attributes to having affordable rent. For this reason, she thinks the province should build more social housing.

“I’d really like to see things change for others. We’re really lucky to know where we are.”

The PC government has announced its intention to build 273 new social housing units. There is more than 7,000 people on the waiting list.

For Brunet, the solution lies in the repression of fixed-term leases. She said the government needs to “wake up” and see the effect they are having on renters and affordability.

“No one has security where they live. It would be so easy, I say it would be so easy to correct the situation.”

With a fixed-term lease, a landlord does not need to give notice or justification if they do not wish to renew, and they can increase the rent without restriction for the next tenant. Many tenants and housing advocates condemn fixed-term leases for the vulnerable position in which they place tenants, while the owners defend them as the only option to recover costs due to the five per cent provincial cap on rent increases.

Where are the parties?

Progressive Conservatives campaigned in 2021 almost exclusively on the promise of “fixing” health care, but as housing and cost of living have become glaring issues During their first term in government, they shifted some of their focus.

On the housing front, Tim Houston’s conservatives have favored incentives for private developers, the creation of new emergency housing for people already evicted, and partnerships with nonprofit groups to help them increase housing. supply of non-market housing.

More recently, they have made changes to provincial taxation that they say will counter the pressure of inflation and high interest rates by keeping more money in the pockets of Nova Scotians.

They indexed income tax and income assistance rates to inflation, and they recently announced a plan to cut the sales tax by one percentage point. On the campaign trail, Houston said his party would increase the basic personal income tax exemption from $8,744 to $11,744 and raise the minimum wage to $16.50 within a year.

Under the leadership of Zach Churchill, the Liberals have also introduced tax relief as a solution to the affordability crisis: they want to reduce the sales tax by two percentage points and eliminate the HST on all groceries.

They also announced that they would make public transportation free throughout the province.

Although affordability is a relatively new topic for the Conservatives and Liberals, it has been the bread and butter of the NDP for many years. Since the days of Stephen McNeil’s Liberal government, New Democrats have called for permanent rent controls and minimum wage increases, and more recently, they have called for the abolition of fixed-term tenancies.

Under the leadership of Claudia Chender, the party released a housing plan this year that reiterates the party’s position on rent controls and fixed-term leases. This plan will likely form a central part of the party’s campaign platform.

No party has yet published a complete program for this electoral campaign.

Nova Scotians’ votes will be counted on November 26.