The Nova Scotia government announced plans Wednesday to work on a new supportive housing model at the same time it said funding for a beleaguered shelter in New Glasgow will be cut off in 90 days.
Social development minister announces plans to move toward supportive housing options
Northstar Shelter and Support Services has operated in New Glasgow since 2018. In the last four years it’s faced persistent complaints from people in the community about open drug use nearby and other problems.
The Nova Scotia government announced plans Wednesday to work on a new supportive housing model at the same time it said funding for a beleaguered shelter in New Glasgow will be cut off in 90 days.
Although the cabinet minister responsible said a transition team will begin working with guests of the 20-bed Northstar Shelter to find them alternative arrangements and support, the chair of the shelter’s board said he’s “skeptical” that something else could come together to fill the gap so soon.
“The government may very well have a plan that they can put in place and help avoid the deaths that are a potential from this, but we don’t know about that,” Dwayne Wright said in an interview.
“We have no idea of what that plan is. But it’s very clear that, to them, Northstar is not part of that plan.”
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Northstar Shelter and Support Services has operated in New Glasgow since 2018. In the last four years it’s faced persistent complaints from people in the community about open drug use nearby and other problems.
Last month, New Glasgow town council called on the province to shut down the shelter in favour of a different model.
Mayor Nancy Dicks welcomed the news Wednesday and said she hopes it leads to a better arrangement for the clients of Northstar and the community more broadly.
Susan Corkum-Greek, minister of social development for Nova Scotia, pictured at the legislature Sept. 9, 2026.
In an interview with CBC, Social Development Minister Susan Corkum-Greek said the supportive housing model, which provides services to help people facing challenges with addictions and mental health while also moving them to more stable housing, has worked in other parts of the province.
Corkum-Greek’s department announced Wednesday a call for expressions of interest for service providers to set up operations in regional centres in Pictou, Lunenburg and Kings counties.
Shelter services will continue
The minister said it’s difficult to know how long it would take to get the new services in place, although she hopes it’s by the end of the fiscal year. That would create about a three-month gap in New Glasgow from when Northstar closes, although Corkum-Greek said other options would be in place in the meantime.
“We will ensure there are shelter services, but importantly we want more than those shelter services being available,” she said, declining to provide more specifics.
“Suffice it to say, enough work has been done leading to this decision to make me confident of being able to say that.”
The executive director of Northstar, Lisa Deyoung, said along with the 20 shelter beds the site operates, it also provides services to hundreds of other people who don't have permanent housing and for people struggling to pay for utilities, groceries and rent.
'We’ve been very successful in being able to ensure people are able to stay in their homes. But that won’t be there anymore for these folks,' says Lisa Deyoung, executive director of Northstar Shelter and Support Services.
“We’ve invested over $200,000 into ensuring community members can maintain their housing,” Deyoung said in an interview.
“Everyone is struggling more and more these days and so we get these requests in and we’ve been very successful in being able to ensure people are able to stay in their homes. But that won’t be there anymore for these folks.”
Corkum-Greek said she does not view the change as a loss of services for the community. Rather, she said the change would lead to enhanced services to help people move from homelessness toward more stable housing.
Wright and Deyoung both questioned why, if the province saw the need, it did not act sooner to try to expand services for the community while the shelter faced repeated complaints about gaps it was not equipped to fill.
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Michael Gorman
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Michael Gorman covers the Nova Scotia legislature for CBC, with additional focuses on health care and rural communities. Contact him with story ideas at michael.gorman@cbc.ca
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