Large size of Syrian refugee families means homes harder to find

Syrian refugees are arriving in Halifax with lots of kids in tow, and that means it is taking longer to find homes to accommodate families of up to a dozen people.

The average Syrianfamily coming to Nova Scotia has seven members, according toGerry Mills, director of operations for the Immigrant Services Association of Nova Scotia.

• Syrian refugees keep busy at Halifax rec centres while waiting for homes

Some are as large as 10 or 12 people, which means it will take time to find them somewhere to live, Mills told CBC's The Current.Some are staying in a local hotel in the meantime.

"For instance, at the hotel right now we have 120-odd people, we have 50 under the age of five," she said. "This is happening across the country."

Several families of 10 are arriving inHalifaxsoon, soISANS wantsto move those in the hotel into permanent accommodations by Friday.

Busy but manageable

"There's no bottleneck right now. With the 120 that we have right now we have secured apartments," said Mills.

But by the end of next week another 130 refugees are expected to arrive in Halifax.

At the same time, other Canadiancities are warning of problems accommodating so many refugees at once.

• Government-assisted refugee arrivals paused in more Canadian cities

The federal Department of Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship told CBC News in an email Wednesday that groups in Vancouver, Ottawa andToronto asked the federal government to delay new arrivals of government-assisted refugees for a few days.

ISANS told CBC News that it didn't ask the government for a slow down.

Mills said the federal government's system forsettlingrefugees is working well, but it's not perfect.

"I think we're all working without a complete road map. There are sure to be hiccups in the system, and we're all trying to work together.

"I think those systems are in place, I think there are tweaks probably that need to happen, but every day is a new day."