Young people are returning to the Acadian Shore, but where will they live?

Réanne Cooper had hoped to buy a starter home when she returned to Clare, NS, from New Brunswick earlier this year, but soon realized that dream was out of reach.

“Now that the prices are incredibly high, these are not prices for people our age,” said Cooper, 26.

Cooper and her partner opted for the rental instead, but with very few units available, they stayed on a short-term rental for the first few months. They eventually found a house to long-term rent through the cousin of a friend’s wife who was looking for tenants.

“It was a stressful thing, like when you’re not sure where to stay … and I can only imagine people who might get jobs in the area that don’t necessarily have those connections,” said Cooper, who it was Born in the Clare area and went to L’Université Sainte-Anne at nearby Church Point.

The Acadian Shore, like many places in Nova Scotia, is facing a real estate boom with buyers buying property, raising prices, and leaving few spots in the market. It’s both a blessing and a curse for churches like Clare Ward, which not long ago struggled to keep the people in the area.

Now Cooper said young people are coming back to fill vacancies, but there are few places to live.

“Given the problems, it is very encouraging to see our community grow. There are challenges with that, and that is exactly what we are trying to address,” said Warden Ronnie LeBlanc.

Ronnie LeBlanc is the director of the Clare Ward on the Acadian Shore in Nova Scotia. (CBC)

The council is working on a housing action plan and exploring the idea of ​​converting old urban buildings such as former schools and a nursing home into housing developments.

LeBlanc hopes it will help local businesses expand.

“From health care to boat building to fish processing and construction – I hear it from every single sector,” he said. “They want to hire, they want to expand, and they have a lot of trouble with the lack of available staff, and it all has to do with the lack of housing.”

A problem for employers

Some people find accommodation further afield in Digby and Yarmouth and have to travel to the area for work, said Gilles Theriault, managing director of AF Theriault and Sons Ltd. in Meteghan River.

“It makes it harder to keep our employees because they take on other jobs that are closer to where they live,” he said. “So if I can keep them busy and let them live as close to the shipyard as possible, that works better.” for them financially and it just works better for our church. ”

AF Theriault & Son is a 70 year old family company that builds a wide range of ships. (Radio Canada)

Finding affordable jobs for the company’s middle-income workers to buy or rent nearby is becoming “increasingly problematic,” said Theriault, and he is glad the community is taking the situation seriously.

The council has its sights set on two school buildings that will be vacant for the next year or so when another school is built. A new nursing home will also be built, leaving the current building empty.

A study looking at the issue will be ready in the coming weeks ahead of the council, but LeBlanc said it was too early to say who would ultimately pay for and develop these properties. He said he would like to see a mix of low and high income units.

“There is a lot at stake”

Natalie Robichaud, the executive director of Société Acadienne de Clare, fears that a lack of housing could discourage young francophone families from returning to the region.

“I think there is a lot at stake,” she recently told CBC Radio’s Information Morning. “I have a lot of friends who want to come back.”

Robichaud, who is also Information Morning’s community liaison, would like more resources for non-Francophone newbies to learn more about the history and culture of the Acadian communities and to have the opportunity to learn French.

“A story about why this place is French and why it’s so fragile and why it’s important that we keep it, you know, things like that,” she said. “There is work we could do to meet people halfway through.”

Lester Doucet, a broker affiliated with Remax Banner, said he was inundated with calls, texts and emails at any time of the day from people from the US, Europe and other parts of Canada eager to stay in the relative safety of during the pandemic Arrive nova scotia.

He said 2020 was his best year in his two decades in business. Just three months after 2021, he almost beat that record.

The Clare community, like many places in Nova Scotia, has become very attractive to buyers from Ontario, the United States, and even Europe. (Réanne Cooper)

But Doucet is also concerned about the impact this housing frenzy will have on the community.

“Our forces, I hope they plan to buffer some here to make it possible for there to be places where people can live and they don’t have to worry about losing their shirt,” he said.

The community’s housing action plan is a long-term solution to an urgent problem, but LeBlanc said it was a start.

“It is not an easy challenge to master, but I think we are on the right track,” he said.