“I was looking for a slower pace of life, a lower cost of living situation,” says bartender Marta Ess. It’s a late fall day and Ess is sitting at a window table just inside Dear Friend bar on Portland Street in downtown Dartmouth. The sun appears to be setting even though it’s barely 4pm, but thankfully […]
Victoria Walton
Victoria was a full-time reporter with The Coast from April 2020 until mid-2022, when the CBC lured her away. During her Coast tenure, she covering everything from COVID-19 to small business to politics and social justice. Originally from the Annapolis Valley, she graduated from the University of King’s College School of Journalism in 2017.
Posted inNews + Opinion
Weighing the costs of HRM’s crisis housing options
Late in September, Halifax announced a plausible, partial alternative to the unhoused population living outdoors this winter—a set of 73 modular housing units that cost $240,000 total and would be ready for habitation “before the snow flies.” Then came weeks of silence on the subject, followed by the admission at last Tuesday’s meeting of Halifax […]
Posted inNews + Opinion
Revealed: the city’s plan to manage councillor reactions during the shelter siege
Early this summer, Halifax had given and missed its own deadline for removing shelters from the old Halifax Memorial Library grounds. The next steps were unclear, but tensions on all sides were rising and it was clear the city was gearing up to do something. In early July, councillor Shawn Cleary told The Coast that […]
Posted inNews + Opinion
HRM’s new $3.2 million plan for modular housing units
Today the city’s promise to provide 73 units of modular housing for unhoused residents officially fell through. The city had sourced some units locally and made an announcement in September that they would soon be ready for habitation, but according to documents discussed at council today, sometime between then and now “it was determined that […]
Posted inNews + Opinion
A look inside the 73 modular housing units rotting at a Halifax construction yard
In late September, Halifax announced its plan to purchase a total of 73 modular units that would be used for temporary housing. Coincidentally, there are exactly the same number of units, with pale grey siding, creaky unlocked doors and basic wooden furniture, currently sitting at a Halifax construction site. Mills Heavy Hauling in Goodwood is […]
Posted inNews + Opinion
Activists build a crisis shelter as Halifax stays silent about modular housing plans
Tuesday at its regular biweekly meeting, Halifax Regional Council is supposed to receive a long-awaited update on the city’s plan to deploy modular housing units, which were announced in late September as a way to create shelter for dozens of unhoused Haligonians. The update could be related to council agenda item 15.1.7, Options for Increased […]
Posted inNews + Opinion
Modular units, where art thou?
Way back on August 31, Halifax Regional Council held a special meeting to discuss the housing crisis. It was only a few weeks after the violent police action on August 18, and the disturbing images from that day were still at the forefront of the city’s collective consciousness. The meeting was mainly councillors feeling remorseful, […]
Posted inNews + Opinion
Ready or not, winter is coming to People’s Park
As the sun sets on a Friday evening in October, People’s Park is bustling. At the Chebucto Road green space, known as Meagher Park before it became a community of unhoused locals, residents are eating goulash made by a volunteer, someone else is sorting through donated winter jackets and a man plays hacky sack while […]
Posted inNews + Opinion
A People’s Park success story
In late August, Malcolm Kay first experienced homelessness in Halifax. He spent nearly six weeks without a permanent address. First, he was sleeping in a tent at People’s Park, then was promised—and ousted from—a room at the Comfort Inn, spent a few nights at the Gray Arena and went back to the park. Finally, as […]
Posted inFood + Drink
Halifax’s underground queer bar is going public
Mike Scaife has lived in Halifax’s north end for nine years, on a quiet, dead-end residential street with limited parking and lined with trees that give way to the mid-afternoon sun. His house is a pale colour, blending in with the neighbours’ two-storey homes, their yards scattered with children’s toys and fall-themed decorations. The only […]
Posted inNews + Opinion
Police board seeks independent advice on independent review of shelter siege
Exactly two months after the shelter siege of August 18, Halifax’s Board of Police Commissioners met to discuss the possibility of an independent review of police actions that day. A petition calling for such a review was started by the East Coast Prison Justice Society and signed by nearly 5,000 people over the past eight […]