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, […]
Housing
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“Massive” Cogswell redevelopment coming for 2025-2026
The redevelopment of the Cogswell Interchange, which is billed as the biggest city-building project in Halifax’s history, is expected to finish up in the 2025-2026 fiscal year. Construction will break ground this winter on the rebuild that mayor Mike Savage says will bridge a gap between peninsula Halifax’s north end and the downtown core. “Make […]
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Rent control extended until the end of 2023
Until the end of 2023, rent in Nova Scotia cannot be hiked above a two percent annual increase. Premier Tim Houston announced the measure—a two-year extension of the pandemic-time rent control measure first set out in November 2020—today, following weeks of public pressure on the government amid the housing crisis. The PC leader, who has […]
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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 […]
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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 […]
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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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ACORN rally calls on government to extend rent control
On Thursday morning, traffic on Hollis Street was moving even slower than normal. Cars and semi-trucks were honking, some repeatedly, as they approached the provincial legislature—but it wasn’t because of a mid-morning traffic jam. Beginning at 10am, dozens of people gathered outside the provincial legislature to call on the government to extend rent control, which […]
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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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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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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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Dear mayor and council, you can’t blame the protesters because none of you were there
I am writing to denounce the municipality’s complicity in the eviction enforcement that gave rise to the police violence around the old library on Spring Garden Road on August 18, 2021. I am especially outraged after seeing some post-protest comments from municipal elected officials and HRP spokespeople, which ranged from weak to odious. None of […]
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Tim Houston (again) rejects rent control
Premier-designate Tim Houston agrees the lack of housing in Nova Scotia is a “crisis.” But in his first appearance with chief medical officer of health Robert Strang, the Progressive Conservative leader repeated his campaign message that rent control is not the fix. “I don’t believe that rent control is a solution to the housing crisis, […]