Build Together:

Strengthening the Community Housing Sector in Nova Scotia

Build Together I & II

In partnership with the Community Housing Transformation Centre, we are working to engage the community-housing sector in Nova Scotia – to share successes, recognize strengths, address challenges and barriers, identify gaps, and discover new ways of working together for greater collective impact. Ultimately, our goal is to help strengthen the sector. Build Together I (2021) included four rounds of consultation to identify the desired changes needed to strengthen the sector and to build a network of housing providers, housing groups, networks, and coalitions, and other interested stakeholders. An inventory has been developed and will continue to help with communication, coordination and collaboration. Thematic briefs and monthly newsletters were developed and published. A model for a Nova Scotia Non-Profit Housing Association was developed and validated as reflecting the way forward.

Build Together II (2022) will advance the formation of a Nova Scotia Non-Profit Housing Association in several ways. Using a diversity, inclusion, equity and decolonization lens, a governance model will be designed. A sustainability plan is being developed that will identify important ways in which the organization can move forward with confidence. Strategic directions and goals expressed during Build Together I and II will be packaged and shared. Non-profit housing providers as well as the informal housing groups, networks and coalitions that work to create housing solutions will convene in October of 2022 to decide on the formation of a Nova Scotia Non-Profit Housing Association.