The NDP is warning that people will start moving away because housing is too expensive.

The province saw a major boom in the population during and after the pandemic, but those numbers are slowing, according to government statistics.

NDP leader Claudia Chender says that is because life in Nova Scotia is not affordable.

“This government is interested in telling people that everything’s getting better, but the experience of the over 300,000 Nova Scotians who rent is that it’s getting more and more expensive,” said Chender.

She added that, for the last decade, Nova Scotians have been trying to stop people from leaving. And with the population boom, more people were coming than going.

“We are very concerned that we’re on the wrong end of a slippery slope,” Chender said.

She made the comments shortly after she announced on Tuesday morning that she would become her party’s official housing critic.

It’s in response to the province appointing a new Housing Minister, John White, in a cabinet shuffle last month.

The province previously removed the position, with Jill Balser, Minister of Service Nova Scotia, taking on the Residential Tenancies Program, and Colton LeBlanc, Minister of Growth and Development, taking on the housing responsibilities.

“I am going to use every opportunity to demand accountability and action from this government,” Chender said.

The province has repeatedly said that housing will become more affordable once more housing is built.