More people are being priced out of the housing market. These non-profit groups are trying to help [Video]

A couple times a week, Nancy O’Regan or one of her fellow volunteers makes a trip to the Guysborough hardware store. 

Today, her mission is to pick up four cans of primer and paint in a neutral beige with a creamy eggshell finish. 

It’s all for a renovation at a six-unit building just bought in February by the Community First Guysborough County Housing Association. The building is in Boylston, N.S., a rural area about 270 kilometres from Halifax. O’Regan is chair of the board. 

“It was pretty exciting,” she said of the purchase, which came about six months after the organization officially incorporated. 

“We were successful against all odds.” 

Community First is now the proud landlord for seven people, offering stable rents at between $800 and $850 a month for one- and two-bedroom apartments — about 60 to 70 per cent of what market rent would be.