The Mi’kmaw Native Friendship Centre’s shelter is closing by the end of this month, adding insult to injury to Nova Scotia’s burgeoning housing crisis under the Houston government.

“The people using that 40-bed shelter will once again be out on the streets, in the dead of winter, all under Premier Houston’s watch,” says Liberal Homelessness and Poverty critic Brendan Maguire.

In a letter sent out to staff, the shelter said funding from the Houston government “has not been secured for 2022.”

The Houston government’s housing plan committed funding, along with a previous grant from the federal Rapid Housing Initiative, for a new shelter run through the Friendship Centre – but construction on that facility has barely begun.

“So in the interim, the Houston government is letting the current shelter close, and it will be months before a new shelter is even on the horizon,” says Maguire. “Another 40 Nova Scotians will be out on the street by January under this government, despite their promises in the legislature to not let people sleep in the cold. It’s disgraceful, and immediate action is needed from the Houston government.”