'It's concerning': Tenants evicted for new special care home near Halifax

Kellie Graham is paying almost triple the rent she was two years ago. She's been evicted twice over that time. In both cases, she was told the home had sold and the new owner was moving in.

But the most recent time, that turned out to be a lie.

Graham had been renting part of a home in Lower Sackville, N.S., for just over a year when she and the other tenant were given notice to vacate, along with a signed affidavit from the new owner saying she would be living in the home.

"We did a little research on the name and had our suspicions, based on the business that they run, that this might happen," Graham said. "But we didn't really feel that we could prove anything at that point." 

The new owner of the home, Yiwen Zhao-Walsh, is listed on Nova Scotia's joint registry of stocks as the owner of New Vision Special Care Homes Ltd., a company that runs some of the province's "small option" homes that allow adults with disabilities to live more independently in the community. 

Shortly after Graham and the other tenant moved out, they found out the home had indeed been turned into a small option home. They are now challenging their eviction through Nova Scotia's residential tenancies program.

"If the purchaser did not move in and live in that home, then it wasn't a legal eviction," said Joanne Hussey, a community legal worker with Dalhousie Legal Aid Service who is representing the tenants.

Hussey said she is seeing more instances of landlords abusing the purchaser-to-occupy clause in the Residential Tenancies Act, but she has never seen a situation like this.

"This is the first time we've seen a company basically use the purchaser-to-occupy method of removing a tenant from a premises," Hussey said. "It's concerning that we haven't seen the kind of due diligence that we would like to see to make sure that there isn't an unintended consequence in the government setting up this small option home in this location."

Purchaser to occupy

If the property has four units or less and the landlord is an individual, they can end the tenant's lease early if they plan to move in.

But Hussey said it's often hard to prove if this is true. 

"I think we do need to have some sort of enforcement or some sort of other check," she said. "I don't think that's a job for tenants who are already in a vulnerable situation of losing their housing to be checking if the new owner actually moved in." 

Hussey said she recognizes the importance of people with disabilities being able to live in the community, and not in institutions. But evicting tenants to set up a small option home reflects the severity of Nova Scotia's housing crisis. 

"We don't really know how many affordable rental units we have in the city. We don't know how many we've lost over the last two years," Hussey said. 

"Not to at all belittle the need for small option homes, we absolutely need those. But we also need affordable rentals, so those things shouldn't be competing against one another for limited space."

Government response 

Small option homes are private businesses that allow three or four people with disabilities to live in a home setting in the community, with support from trained staff. 

There are currently 238 small option homes in the province, supporting 749 people. An additional six homes are being built or renovated now, and another 10 are waiting for work to start.

Another 324 adults with disabilities are being housed in apartments with support from the province.

The small option and apartment program received $164,973,200 in funding from the provincial government last year, and almost $22 million more is expected to be spent on the program in this fiscal's budget.

The provincial Department of Community Services (DCS), which is in charge of the disability support program and small option homes, declined an interview on the subject and sent an emailed statement. 

"DCS is focused on finding permanent housing options for vulnerable Nova Scotians and would not want anyone evicted from their home to house someone else," wrote spokesperson Christina Deveau. 

Deveau said the province works with a variety of service providers, who are responsible for locating land for new construction or buying or leasing a home so the program participants can live in their chosen location. 

She directed questions about the legality of the eviction to the owner of the property, since "DCS cannot speak to what a service provider may have done prior to the department establishing and approving an agreement to support participants."

CBC News contacted New Vision Special Care Homes by phone and by email but did not receive a response by publication time. 

Hoping to set a precedent

Hussey said she hopes the residential tenancies program will use the case to show that this type of eviction will not be tolerated.

Graham is now in a new rental after spending months searching for an affordable option. She's seeking compensation for her eviction and her moving expenses, but she said she also wants to draw attention to situations like this.

"You realize now that that notice could come at any time, and there seems to be so little recourse for people who are renting," she said. "You know, it just depends on your landlord and whether they're willing to follow the rules or not. And if they're not, sometimes there's not a lot you can do about it."