BILL NO. 164
(as introduced)
1st Session, 65th General Assembly
Nova Scotia
4 Charles III, 2025
Private Member's Public Bill
Poverty Reduction Strategy Act
Lina Hamid
Fairview–Clayton Park
First Reading: October 1, 2025
Second Reading:
Third Reading:
An Act Respecting a Poverty Reduction Strategy
Be it enacted by the Governor and Assembly as follows:
1 This Act may be cited as the Poverty Reduction Strategy Act.
"Minister" means the Minister of Opportunities and Social Development;
"Poverty Reduction Strategy" means the Poverty Reduction Strategy required by this Act.
3 This Act is binding on the Crown in right of the Province.
4 (1) The Minister shall, within eighteen months of the coming into force of this Act, develop and table in the House of Assembly a comprehensive poverty reduction strategy.
(a) set out clear and measurable targets for reducing poverty in the Province, including child poverty, by specified dates;
(b) use the Market Basket Measure of poverty as the primary standard for setting targets and measuring progress;
(c) include a review of the adequacy of income assistance and related supports, including whether benefit levels allow recipients of income assistance to meet their basic needs and live with dignity, in particular for recipients living with disabilities;
(d) include a review of whether the eligibility criteria for different levels of income assistance support are fair, inclusive and non-discriminatory, including whether they account for the realities of people living with significant mental health challenges and whether they discriminate based on whether the recipient is unhoused or not;
(e) include a review of the adequacy of the Province's poverty-reduction tax measures, including the Poverty Reduction Credit, the Affordable Living Tax Credit and the Nova Scotia Child Benefit, to determine whether they provide meaningful support to low-income households;
(f) include a review of programs, the Career Seek and the Educate to Work programs, designed to assist income assistance recipients in entering or re-entering the workforce, accessing skills training or pursuing post-secondary education;
(g) include a review of programs and services intended to prevent and reduce homelessness, including emergency shelter, supportive housing, housing-first initiatives and the Canada-Nova Scotia Targeted Housing Benefit, to assess their effectiveness and adequacy.
(h) recognize the distinct circumstances of Indigenous peoples, African Nova Scotians, persons with disabilities, newcomers, seniors, lone-parent families, particularly female-led lone-parent families, and other marginalized groups; and
(i) include consultations with persons with
- (i) lived experience of poverty,
(ii) charitable and community organizations with experience delivering assistance to people living in poverty,
(iii) academic and subject matter experts, and
(iv) stakeholders representing Nova Scotians with distinct circumstances as outlined in clause (h).
5 (1) No later than September 30th in each year subsequent to the release of the Poverty Reduction Strategy, the Minister shall table in the House of Assembly or, where the House is not sitting, file with the Clerk an annual progress report outlining actions taken, funds allocated and progress made toward the targets set out in the Strategy.
(2) The annual progress report must include the following indicators:
(a) the poverty rate as measured by the Market Basket Measure;
(b) the child poverty rate as measured by the Market Basket Measure;
(c) the number of individuals and households making use of food banks;
(d) homelessness indicators, including the number of individuals experiencing chronic homelessness and the number of individuals using emergency shelters;
(e) the number and percentage of income assistance recipients who have moved into sustained employment; and
(f) the uptake and completion rates of training and education programs designed to support workforce re-entry of income assistance recipients.
(3) The annual progress report must include equity-based reporting, disaggregating indicators in subsection (2) by equity-seeking groups, including Indigenous peoples, African Nova Scotians, persons with disabilities, newcomers, seniors and lone-parent families, particularly female-led lone-parent families.
6 Every five years, beginning with the publication of the first Poverty Reduction Strategy, the Minister shall conduct a comprehensive review of the Strategy, including public consultation, and table or file a renewed Strategy as provided in subsection 4(1).
7 This Act has effect on and after January 1, 2026.
This page and its contents published by the Office of the Legislative Counsel, Nova Scotia House of Assembly, and © 2025 Crown in right of Nova Scotia. Created October 1, 2025. Send comments to legc.office@novascotia.ca.
