Government of Canada completes sale of Marine House to Mi'kmaw Native Friendship Society for affordable housing

DARTMOUTH, NS, March 13, 2025 /CNW/ - Everyone deserves a place to call home. However, for many across the country, home ownership and renting are out of reach due to the housing crisis Canada is facing. We need to build more homes, faster, to get Canadians into homes that meet their needs, at prices they can afford. That's why in Budget 2024 and Solving the Housing Crisis: Canada's Housing Plan, the federal government announced the most ambitious housing plan in Canadian history: a plan to build 4 million more homes. As part of this plan, the Government of Canada is identifying properties within its portfolio that have the potential for redevelopment into housing.

Today, the Honourable Jean-Yves Duclos, Minister of Public Services and Procurement and Quebec Lieutenant and the Honourable Darren Fisher, Minister of Veterans Affairs and Member of Parliament for Dartmouth—Cole Harbour, announced that Marine House, located in Dartmouth, Nova Scotia, has been sold to the Mi'kmaw Native Friendship Society (MNFS), in partnership with Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC) under the Federal Lands Initiative (FLI) program, for redevelopment into affordable housing.

The FLI is a $318.9-million program, administered in partnership with Housing, Infrastructure and Communities Canada and Canada Lands Company, to transfer and lease surplus federal lands and buildings to eligible applicants for redevelopment into affordable, sustainable, accessible and socially inclusive housing.

Public Services and Procurement Canada (PSPC) has partnered with CMHC and the MNFS, in consultation with Kwilmu'kw Maw-klusuaqn on behalf of the Assembly of Nova Scotia Mi'kmaw Chiefs and the Mi'kmaq of Nova Scotia, to deliver this Indigenous-led housing solution. As the proponent for the project, the MNFS will work with its partners to deliver and operate the affordable housing redevelopment.

Once redeveloped, the property will include at least 61 units. Half of these units will be affordable, costing less than 80% of the average market rent. The project will also include space for the various support services of the MNFS, which aim to help residents and build a strong community. This initiative is a forward-thinking effort to meet housing needs and create a supportive, lively community. Occupancy is expected for February 2027.

Quotes

"The Marine House property is a huge opportunity for affordable housing in Downtown Dartmouth. In the hands of the Mi'kmaw Native Friendship Society, this surplus federal property will be redeveloped and transformed into over 60 safe and supportive homes."

The Honourable Darren Fisher
Minister of Veterans Affairs and Member of Parliament for Dartmouth—Cole Harbour

"Through the Public Lands for Homes Plan, the Government of Canada is making federally owned properties available to help address housing needs across the country. The sale of Marine House to the Mi'kmaw Native Friendship Society is an important step in supporting Indigenous-led housing solutions, ensuring access to safe, affordable housing. In partnership with Canada Lands Company and Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation, we are working to deliver real housing solutions that make a difference in communities. We are proud to support this project and look forward to seeing the Society continue its vital work in Nova Scotia."

The Honourable Jean-Yves Duclos
Minister of Public Services and Procurement and Quebec Lieutenant

"The market alone won't deliver the housing affordability we need. The Federal Lands Initiative is about finding new ways, and new partnerships, for building non-market housing, and this project is a great example of what's possible."

The Honourable Nathaniel Erskine-Smith
Minister of Housing, Infrastructure and Communities

"This project is a consequential development for community members in a key central location that also provides connectivity to more than 60 wrap-around programs offered by the Society. With the potential to affordably house over 200 individuals, Marine House will support social and economic inclusion for each resident. Our partnership with the Assembly of Nova Scotia Mi'kmaw Chiefs and the Government of Canada in this development represents a full circle realization of how collaboration builds on a capacity to deliver concrete solutions that service the entire community and region. Rounding out the project, the Society also continues to work with the Province of Nova Scotia to support accessible housing in the near future."

Pam Glode-Desrochers
Executive Director, Mi'kmaw Native Friendship and Wije'winen Centre

"Housing is critical and a basic human right. We are pleased to have acquired another property through the Mi'kmaq-Nova Scotia-Canada Consultation Process, which we are providing to the Mi'kmaw Native Friendship Society to help address their pressing urban Indigenous housing needs. We recognize Kwilmu'kw Maw-klusuaqn and the Government of Canada for supporting us in providing safe, warm homes for our urban community members in need."

Chief Sidney Peters
Co-Lead of Housing and Infrastructure and Co-Chair for the Assembly of Nova Scotia Mi'kmaw Chiefs

Quick facts

• In Budget 2024 and Solving the Housing Crisis: Canada's Housing Plan, the federal government announced an ambitious whole-of-government approach to addressing the housing crisis by building more homes, making it easier to rent or own a home, and helping Canadians who cannot afford a home.
• A key component of Canada's Housing Plan is the new Public Lands for Homes Plan. This plan aims to partner with all levels of government, homebuilders and housing providers to build homes, faster, on surplus and underused public lands across the country.
• The Public Lands for Homes Plan supports the government's goal of unlocking 250,000 new homes by 2031.
• Marine House is a PSPC custodial asset located at 176 Portland Street in Dartmouth, Nova Scotia. This 6-storey, 5,708-square-metre building was built in 1984, purchased by PSPC in 2002 and declared surplus to operational requirements in 2022.

Associated links

Solving the Housing Crisis: Canada's Housing Plan
Federal Lands Initiative

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SOURCE Public Services and Procurement Canada

Contacts: Mathis Denis, Press Secretary and Senior Communications Advisor, Office of the Honourable Jean-Yves Duclos, 343-573-1846, [email protected]; Media Relations, Public Services and Procurement Canada, 819-420-5501, [email protected]