Winter...and Homeless.

Winter...and Homeless.

The Out-of-the Cold Shelter is in big need of the items listed below. They'd really appreciate if any of you 'Santas' out there could donate the following items, although financial donations, no matter how small...$5 even, would be most helpful. Shelter supply needs are assessed weekly, then specific purchases are made. Tax receipts are provided for financial donations.

Maybe you have stuff you haven't worn in a while, or friends or family do, or, toss in a couple extra food items, listed below, in your basket at the supermarket. If you can get down to Barrington and Spring Garden Road to the Shelter at St. Matthew's ANY TIME over the holidays or when you're back in town at work, please do. The Shelter hours are between 8.15AM to 8PM, Monday to Sunday and you can call them at 225-1142 or email halifaxwintershelter@gmail

.com if you have questions regarding donations or about the Shelter itself.

* hoodies sixe XL
* good quality winter boots/sneakers size 9 and up
* men's new underwear / longjohns
* small back packs
* milk crates
* juice
* milk / coffee cream
* coffee
* granola / breakfast bars
* FITTED ONLY single sized bed sheets
* large plastic tubs for storage
* laundry Detergent
* bus tickets

Baby injured in rooming house

Our local paper just released a story about a young family living in a rooming house - they had a small baby and that baby was injured. The parents are being charged with assault causing injury to the child. The parents are young - 23years old, and both are said to have an university education - and of course they are poor.
Things we do know - The landlord rented the room to this young family knowing that it was not suitable for children as the other tenants are single men many (not all) who have been in conflict with the law and are in addiction recovery.
The public health nurse was in to see the family on a regular basis
Source of income - I will speculate it was social assistance (welfare) so then the caseworker would have been aware of the living conditions.
So what happened? The system let this family down - they were young inexperienced and in need of adequate housing and supports - why did this not happen? Why did not the professionals involved in their lives step in sooner.
Would adequate housing and better income have improved the situation. From what I know the Mother never left the room - they stayed locked inside - only mixing with others in the rooming house when they needed the bathroom or kitchen -
Think about the impact of being young, new parents, forced to live in unsuitable conditions, under resourced - even perhaps being fearful for you and your child's safety - think of the pressure that would put on the parents - in my opinion it was a recipe for disaster - the results - could be a lost of life and for certain a destruction of a family
What could have been done - better housing, more supports - the department of community services as well as the health care providers - really needs to review their policies to ensure adequate resources are provided in a timely manner to those in need.

Eviction

Given the many calls of late I have been receiving at our advocacy office I thought I would review some very basic landlord tenant stuff ( please note that this is for Nova Scotia)

• Leases are legal documents and both parties that sign are bound by the agreement and to break a lease or change it must be done legally. So your landlord can't add stuff, rules after you sign your lease and say you now must follow these new rules.
• This holds even if your building is sold - the new landlord must honor your old lease agreement. If they want to change your lease you must be given notice - 4 mos before your anniversary date to decide if you agree - if you don't agree then your landlord will need to go to the tenancy board to change it and if you have been there under 5 years can evict you although you can respond if you think that the rules are unfair. If you have been there longer than 5 years they must go to the tenancy board and you are not at risk of losing your housing if you do not agree to the changes.
• Rental increases only can happen once a year and you must be given 4 months notice before your anniversary date. Unfortunately in NS we have no rent control so the landlord can put your rent up as much as they want.
• However if the landlord puts your rent up and no others in the building you can challenge it as unfair at the tenancy board and the landlord will need to justify why your rent was increased when no others were.
• If the landlord reduces the services included in your rent - like if they turn off heat or remove Internet - or even pull out the washer and dryer (coin operated or not) then this is considered an illegal increase in your rent as you are now paying for less services. You can get a rental rebate/reduction to compensate you for the lose in services.
• Police will not enforce an eviction unless it is legally given - eviction must go through the tenancy board - regardless of the issue
• a 5 day notice to quit can only be issued for a significant issue and must be issued and enforced by a tenancy hearing
• Your landlord must store your things for 60days before getting rid of them - they can charge you a storage fee
• Your landlord cannot take your damage deposit without a tenancy hearing - they must get the ok to use it against damages and must prove the damage with documentation

Well there is plenty more however these have been some of the ones we have been dealing with as of late. Remember stand up for your rights - it may seem like all the rules are in the landlord favor however if you never stand up for your rights we then give them all the power.