HTNS a signatory to letter expressing opposition to HRM's HAF proposal
We the undersigned call on the Halifax Regional Municipality (HRM) and the Government of Canada to immediately pause current negotiations around HRM’s Housing Accelerator Fund (HAF) application and embark on the development of a better plan for meeting the pressing need for housing in HRM. We fully support the stated intent (goals) of the HAF to:
Build more homes, faster
Support the development of communities that are:
more affordable
diverse
climate resilient
These are critical global and local issues that require immediate attention. However, HRM’s current proposal will not fulfill the goals of the HAF program; it is ill-conceived and does not make sense within our current context.
What HRM’s Proposal Will NOT Do:
HRM’s proposal will NOT result in building more homes, faster.
In speaking out against Bill 329 last year, HRM maintained that it was neither regulatory hurdles nor a lack of municipal planning resources that stood in the way of building more housing in HRM. Rather, HRM identified interest rates, lack of labour, and supply chain issues as the real impediments. Since the HAF does nothing to address these impediments, it stands to reason that simply increasing density, allowing higher buildings, and disregarding the planning process, people, and community will not result in more homes, faster.
In fact, proposing a strategy that relies on adding huge amounts of high-density housing within a very limited land area will actually slow development: the upgrades to water and sewer needed to accommodate this level of increased density will take many years to plan and implement. In the meantime, a more incremental approach to densification that does not require major upgrades to sewer, water, and other infrastructure could happen more immediately.
HRM’s proposal will NOT improve housing affordability or diversity.
Far from improving housing affordability, the proposed upzoning will worsen the affordability crisis by fueling land speculation, driving up property values, and incentivizing the demolition of existing affordable housing stock, particularly our diminishing stock of heritage buildings. We have already seen evidence of these outcomes since the HAF proposal was announced, and these trends will undoubtedly worsen if the current proposal is approved.
HRM’s proposal will NOT promote climate resilience.
Climate change must be addressed now. The HAF proposal relies heavily on a strategy of increasing allowable heights throughout the urban centre, including up to 40 storeys in many locations, even though buildings of this scale require steel and concrete construction, two of the biggest contributors to greenhouse gas emissions world-wide. Buildings of this scale also create significant negative environmental impacts in terms of wind and shadow on surrounding neighbourhoods.
The widespread upzoning proposed in HRM’s HAF response will also encourage the demolition of existing housing stock and send hundreds of thousands of tons of debris to local landfills. Further, HRM’s HAF growth targets anticipate that only 8.85% of new units will be built close to transit. This suggests that those living in the remaining 91%+ of the anticipated new units will be reliant on cars, contributing to greater GHG emissions. Any real effort to deal with climate change requires a move away from auto dependence and highway construction and toward public transit and the creation of transit-oriented communities.
As such, we contend that HRM’s current HAF proposals will not make HRM more climate resilient, but less so.
What HRM’s Proposal WILL Do
Beyond not meeting HAF’s stated goals, we believe HRM’s HAF proposal will have a number of very serious negative consequences:
It WILL destabilize existing neighbourhoods.
The ad hoc nature of the amendments proposed under the HAF turns land into a commodity, encouraging speculation, turnover, demolition, and “block-busting.” This will destabilize neighbourhoods and create uncertainty. There are already reports of homeowners being pressured by developers to sell their properties.
It WILL create a windfall for property developers.
The HAF proposal will give millions of dollars of additional development rights to developers, without any meaningful public benefit in return.
It WILL undermine planning.
HRM’s HAF proposal was developed hastily and dictated in large part by pro forma demands imposed by the federal government. This undermines the value of professional, community-specific planning. Further, the proposal will override HRM’s Centre Plan, which was developed and approved after an intensive planning process involving extensive public consultation.
In effect, the current HAF process will convert planning into a regulatory function that is not concerned with the holistic nature of creating communities.
It WILL erode public confidence and the principle of community engagement.
Elected officials and staff have a responsibility to consult with residents, who have a legislated right to such consultation. Despite this, HRM did not carry out any formal community engagement as part of the development of their initial proposal, and allowed only a brief period for comment after the application had already been approved. This absence of meaningful community engagement is deeply concerning and will lead to further erosion of the public’s confidence in future planning and decision making.
What Do We Want Instead?
The need to build more housing that is affordable while mitigating climate change is immediate, but these are ongoing concerns about how we grow as a city and a province. This is an opportunity to see our future in a more positive light, and to build on our unique heritage and our natural and human assets. Let’s use it to:
1. Create a plan that prioritizes development of empty, underutilized, and misused greyfield and brownfield sites for housing – a plan that builds diverse communities that are truly liveable. We could more than double the population of HRM on these sites alone and avoid all of the destabilizing effects that would result from HRM’s HAF proposal.
2. Create a growth strategy that enables transit-connected development in rural parts of HRM and around the province. This acknowledges that developer-built affordable housing will never happen within the centre area or even in the inner suburbs.
3. Invest in public infrastructure now, ahead of development. Build transit, sewer and water systems, and open space that will allow us to build housing in the right places and make housing affordable.
4. Recognize the importance of planning and that planners are not just regulators or expeditors of development, but professionals whose role is to work with the community to ensure that the right development happens in the right places, in the right form, and with the appropriate services.
In closing, all the signatories to this letter stand ready to work with HRM to develop a better plan to create more housing, faster – a plan that builds on the best qualities of our city and leads us to a more affordable, diverse, and climate-resilient future.
Signed:
Bower Subdivision & surrounding SMU neighbourhoods
Rhonda Britton, Pastor, New Horizons Baptist Church
Development Options Halifax
Howard Epstein, Hallifax Councilor (1994-1998) and MLA (1998-2013)
Tony Gillis, Architect
Jill Grant, Professor Emeritus, School of Planning, Dalhousie University
Jeff Karabanow, Professor, Dalhousie School of Social Work
Friends of the Halifax Common
Friends of Schmidtville
Brian Gifford, Founding Member, Ecology Action Centre
Halifax University Neighbourhood Association
Heritage Trust of Nova Scotia
Maurice E. Lloyd, PEng FCIP
Andy Lynch, Architect (Retired)
Judy MacDonald, Professor, Dalhousie School of Social Work
Neighbours Speak Up (Hydrostone)
Frank Palermo, Professor of Planning, Director of the Cities and Environment Unit, Dalhousie University (1993-2019)
Steve Parcell, Professor, School of Architecture, Dalhousie University
Dawn Sloane, HRM Councilor (2000-2012)
Spryfield Community Association
Iain C. Taylor, President, Friends of Point Pleasant Park
Ren Thomas, Associate Professor, School of Planning, Dalhousie University
Tourism Industry Association of Nova Scotia
Jeff Ward, Professional Planner (retired)
Grant Wanzel, Professor Emeritus, School of Architecture, Dalhousie University
Young Avenue District Heritage Conservation Society
Coalition for a Better HRM Housing Plan : coalition4betterhousingplan@gmail.com
