August 18, 2021, was a defining moment for Halifax. That was the day city hall decided to evict houseless people from public lands, sending municipal workers and police out at dawn to tear down shelters and tents. And it was that Wednesday afternoon hundreds of citizens amassed at the former Halifax Memorial Library, hoping to […]
Emergency Shelters
Posted inNews + Opinion
What’s the best way to help the houseless—shelter now or housing later?
Friday is a storm day in Halifax. The buses have stopped running. Schools are shuttered. Coffee shops have locked their doors and even Halifax Central Library is closed. In an early morning press release, HRM directs unhoused people to the Hfx Warming Centre. The warming centre’s entrance to it isn’t particularly easy to find. The […]
Posted inNews + Opinion
Workers say Friendship Centre execs closed shelter because of union drive
Twenty shelter case workers at the Mi’kmaw Native Friendship Centre didn’t know why they were being asked to gather Monday morning at the shelter on North Park Street. “We got an email from one of the big wigs at the Friendship Centre,” says Brent Cosgrove, who has been a case worker since the shelter first […]
Posted inNews + Opinion
Mi’kmaw Native Friendship Centre shelter closing amid restructuring
The Mi’kmaw Native Friendship Centre has long been a place for urban Indigenous people to find resources, community and even housing. But the centre’s shelter at 2029 North Park Street, the former home of the Taoist Tai Chi Society, has only existed since January of this year. There were 25 beds in the beginning, and […]
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Catholic archdiocese building up to 20 tiny shelters on church land this winter
Last fall, when Roman Catholic archbishop Brian Dunn moved into his position, replacing longtime archbishop Anthony Mancini, he wrote a pastoral letter outlining four priorities for his sphere of influence, the Halifax-Yarmouth archdiocese. Three of those are very specific to church affairs, including the religious teaching called catechesis. The other priority is homelessness. “It was […]
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 […]
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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 […]
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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 […]
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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
HRM says modular housing units will be here “before the snow flies”
For several months, unhoused people in HRM have been struggling to find a safe place to sleep. Residents “sleeping rough,” as the city has dubbed it, have had municipal workers threaten eviction, seen promises of shelter announced and then revoked and been the focal point of violent police action. Many houseless citizens eventually settled at […]