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 […]
Housing crisis
Posted inNews + Opinion
24 protesters arrested at the shelter siege have their first day in court
“I’m not a hero,” says Kate MacDonald into a microphone, standing at the centre of a group gathered this morning outside the courthouse on Spring Garden Road. “Nobody here is.” But the crowd of about 50 may disagree. MacDonald and 23 others were arrested by Halifax Regional Police on August 18 for defending their unhoused […]
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City council report: Housing is never far from council’s thoughts
Highlights from Tuesday’s regular meeting of Halifax Regional Council include a plan for 137 new affordable housing units in HRM, a doubled housing grant program and a mobile shower pilot that’s supposed to start this week. During the Sep 28 meeting, council doubled the amount it will spend on an affordable housing grant from $200,000 […]
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City responds to housing crisis with modular units and staffer used to emergencies
The assistant chief of emergency management for HRM usually deals with the fallout from hurricanes, power outages and nor’easters. Erica Fleck has been in that position since 2017, but the duties of the job largely changed earlier this month when Fleck was assigned to what the city calls “a three-month role leading the emergency response […]
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Housing rally happening at City Hall on Saturday morning
There’s a rally in support of unhoused Haligonians this Saturday, September 18 at 11am. It’s taking place outside Halifax City Hall in Grand Parade (1841 Argyle Street). Organized by the P.A.D.S. Community Network, supporters are being asked to show up to ask the government for a freeze on evictions due to the ongoing housing crisis. […]
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Surprise second eviction looming for some crisis shelter residents who took city help
Tuesday morning, a group of houseless people who had been evicted from public parks and put up by the city at the Comfort Hotel in Dartmouth got some disturbing news: once again, they are being evicted. “We are a bit frantic this morning and quite upset,” says Rachelle Sauvé, site coordinator for P.A.D.S. Community Network, […]
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Jagmeet Singh talks affordable housing and access to voting
Note on election coverage: The Coast has reached out to the federal Liberal, Conservative and Green parties to request interviews with their respective leaders. The Liberals declined but offered an interview with local candidate Andy Fillmore, and the Conservatives and Greens have yet to respond. Jagmeet Singh says there’s one issue that seems to have […]
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Petition calls for a full investigation of police actions during the shelter siege
An online petition is making the rounds on Halifax social media to demand a full and independent investigation into the actions of Halifax Regional Police during the shelter siege on August 18th. Police used pepper spray against the crowd protesting the removal of crisis shelters, and arrested 24 people. The petition was started by the […]
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Rent control extension is not off the table, says new housing minister
Extending Nova Scotia’s temporary rent control program, which is currently tied to the COVID state of emergency, is not off the table for new housing minister and landlord John Lohr. The Kings North MLA and newly-sworn-in minister says the PC government has not ruled out the possibility of an extension to rent control, which is […]
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Nova Scotia’s new cabinet has 2 health ministers, but is missing one for mental health
Progressive Conservative premier Tim Houston was sworn in Tuesday, alongside his team of 18 cabinet ministers. The new cabinet includes seven women, new roles and Nova Scotia’s third white MLA overseeing African Nova Scotian affairs. Together the 19 politicians make up Nova Scotia’s executive council; Houston is president of the council, as well as minister […]
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Housing and remorse dominate council’s first meeting since the shelter siege
Halifax Regional Council met today, August 31, for the first time since the shelter siege on August 18, when 24 people were arrested while trying to protect their neighbours living on the old library grounds from violent eviction by police and city staff. One of the first topics of discussion on today’s meeting agenda was […]
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Halifax police chief Kinsella defends use of force at the Memorial Library shelter protest
Halifax Regional Police chief Dan Kinsella, who was not present at yesterday’s chaotic arrests and protest, says officers “responded appropriately” when using pepper spray which hurt at least one child. In a media availability Thursday afternoon, following 24 arrests made August 18 as police forcibly removed shelters and tents inhabited by unhoused Haligonians, the police […]