HALIFAX -- Less than half of the 200 self-contained shelters Nova Scotia bought a year ago for unhoused people are open to residents.

As of today, the province says 80 of the insulated, 70-square-foot fibreglass shelters made by the U.S. company Pallet are ready for use.

When Nova Scotia first announced the Pallet shelter villages on Oct. 11, 2023, the department said vulnerable residents would benefit from them that winter, along with other supports.

A spokesperson with the Department of Community Services says 80 units erected in Halifax and Kentville, N.S., are either occupied or being moved into soon.

Work to set up the remaining 120 shelters continues, with 85 of them destined for the Halifax region and 35 for the community of Whitney Pier in Cape Breton.

Nova Scotia spent $3 million last winter to set up an emergency shelter in the multi-purpose centre of the Halifax Forum with capacity for up to 100 beds, and in August the government announced it would spend $5.4 million to cover operating costs of the shelter until August 2025.

There are almost 530 shelter beds across the province, with about 400 of them in the Halifax Regional Municipality.

Meanwhile, the Affordable Housing Association of Nova Scotia is reporting that as of last Wednesday, 1,287 people in the Halifax Regional Municipality reported they were homeless.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 1, 2024.