Media release Poverty

Press release: Dangerous repairs and extreme neglect at the 500 Block in Spryfield as ACORN fights back against MetCap Living

Tenants at the apartment complexes in Spryfield are living five people to a room because ceilings are caving in, families and seniors are going without heat, and have been living with bed bugs for years. 

For Release, February 22nd 2021. 

Contact Sydnee Blum for more information and to speak with tenants and ACORN spokespeople: halifax@acorncanada.org

(Spryfield, NS) The ACORN Tenants Union is fighting back against the dangerous living conditions in the apartment complexes on Herring Cove Rd. as MetCap and Northview REIT neglect repairs and pest treatment. 

WHAT: Stand Up to MetCap! 

WHEN: Tuesday, February 23rd at 12pm 

WHERE: 534 Herring Cove Rd to MetCap Property Management Office at 550 Herring Cove Rd, Spryfield 

Tenants are living with mold, pests, massive repairs, leaking roofs, and MORE. Families with young children are living in dangerous conditions because of MetCap’s neglect and refusal to act. 

Halifax-Mainland Co-Chair Patrick Donovan is a longtime resident of the 500 block, he says: “What they’re forcing people to live with here isn’t right. The tenants here are all people on low-incomes and families with nowhere else to go, and they know that. That’s why they think they can get away with making us live in these conditions.” 

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38 Comments

  1. I grew up in that apartment which in the 80s was a good spot to live.a lot of good hard working family’s raised their children their and in my opinion is kind of an icon to me and lots of others who were raised their.To have someone take it over and repair it would be a major step for Spryfield.I also would like to add that all of the buildings on the 500 block can house 36 families in each if we’re repaired to suitable standard living.yes it will cost a lot but in the end people are happy and not only the people who live in the 500 block but for anyone who has ever grew up their and have many child hood memories who don’t want to see this go.thank you for listening!

    1. So what do you want the building owners to spends hundreds of thousands of dollars of their own money to fix up these old buildings? And then I am sure you will complain when they have to raise the rents to pay for the repairs. A company owns these buildings NOT the government!!!! And the government says they can only raise the rent 2% per year…… think about this!!!!! A 2 bedroom apartment rented there for $800 per month with the new government rules the rent can only be raised $16 per month which is $192 per year!!! Which is basically nothing. If the building owner spends $10,000 to fix up a unit it will take 52 years for that $192 to pay off the $10,000. That is a pretty bad investment and no wonder the owners are not fixing the units!!!! Apartment buildings are a business not a charity!!!!

      1. Of you own a building then uts up to the owner to fix the living conditions. So yea. They should spend money on the building.

      2. well clearly none if the rent they are collecting now is going towards repairs- doing your math off the raised price is just bad faith argument- you know the rents should go to building fixes – not to some company executive to buy a summer home. the idea that increased profit is more important than human lives is just sickening.

      3. Who cares how long it takes to pay for repairs .
        People should not live in conditions like no matter the rent .
        Sorry thats my opinion
        Im out no need for reply thanks have a good day

      4. If you’re going to have a rental company, you are supposed to be in a financial position to offer safe living….please stop victim blaming.

      5. When a landlord fails to follow tenant legislation, it becomes a government issue. All residents, regardless of income, deserve a healthy and safe living environment.

      6. Well they should have thought about that before they let it get this bad. If they would have mantained the buildings from the start they wouldn’t have to spend hundreds of thousands of dollars to fix these problems now.

      7. You have to be making some kind of profit or
        You wouldn’t own any apartments right. You wouldn’t want to live in places like that would you. I understand you owners pay out a lot of money for repairs and tenants ruin them, but you still can’t have people living in unfit places. Keep checking on your tenants, and the state of your apartments, wouldn’t that solve some of your problems. I hope you will clean them up and do repairs, you are keeping families together, that must somehow feel good. Thx

      8. They weren’t fixing their buildings loooong before the government made those rules. The buildings are in this shape because of years and years of neglect not because they fixed them up annually like those of us who own homes do. We’re constantly fixing and improving our properties so why can’t Metcap or Hamburg or whoever owns these places do the same!?
        Because they pull the money out of the buildings and don’t put anything back in and if they had their way they’d double the rent so FO with your BS!

      9. They do need to offer safe living conditions, as the property owner the responsibility falls on metcap and as a larger housing company for the Halifax area whom have been steadily raising rents especially in that area they can afford to do basic repairs to prolong the longevity of their investments

      10. Yeah I agree. These people deserve to live in squalor with black mould, beg bugs and cockroaches. Can’t expect the poor defenceless landlords to upkeep their properties.

      11. Then perhaps the “owners” shouldn’t be in the realistate business if they can’t afford to up keep or make repairs to their investments. Nobody is forcing them to buy the properties. That’s all a part of owning a property. There is absolutely no excuse. Perhaps if they had maintained there property it wouldn’t cost them so much in the first place!

      12. If the building owners can’t keep up the buildings its time for them to find another business Adventure….

      13. Sean ;
        I would appreciate what your saying but frankly… Your saying a whole lot of nothing ! First I would like to know If you have heard of the “CHARTER OF RIGHTS AND FREEDOMS ! I know and I will sympathies w:ith you but just like in court’s you cant plead ignorance and talk mombojumbbo about something you really don’t understand ! So what us SPRYTOWNERS will do for you is this : Allow Sean to educate himself on all Canadians rights and living laws, The Charter as it is called …
        : Allow Sean to read and learn what the Large corp it Housing Authority obligations are to the RESIDING tenant…
        Allow Sean to explain in full detail why it is that a tenant has to file an application and not the huge corp it owner ?
        Ill leave you with this for now and class will resume when you have completed your first lesson in Humanity and their rights !

  2. A shame!! I never think that CANADA make so stuff with his own people!!
    The People who has money they must be happy to have this, but they must think when they have not so much money and can lieve JUST in a house like this, how there would feeling????

  3. that is TERRIBLE . they are still getting rent from those tenants FIX up their homes PLEASE

    1. Everyone in the 500 block should rally together say they ain’t getting there money till shits fixed fuck I’d never pay for something that run down from what I’m hearing

  4. My Grand daughter is in an apartment on the HCR next to the bridge to the Macintosh Runs. The living room was partitioned to create a very small bedroom and now a very small living room. Cockroach’s are everywhere and so are mice. Her 2 year old son has caught them in his hands while playing in the bedroom. They are charging $900 a month for this s*** hole and all complaints go unanswered.

  5. Solidarity works. Get out your picket signs, sign up to make a presentation to the NS Legislature, get the media involved and do not pay ur Rent. If you hit these disrespectful landlords in the pocketbook you will get their attention but you need to have most of the population involved with holding back the money my suggestion would be to have a trust account everybody put the rent in the trust account until this gets brought to light and someone does something. If you hit these disrespectful landlords in the pocketbook you will get their attention but you need to have most of the population involved with holding back the money my suggestion would be to have a trust account everybody put the rent in the trust account until this gets brought to light and someone does something positive.. if the money is in trust that way the tenants cannot be tossed out once they come to some reasonable conclusions with the landlord to fix up the properties.

  6. Tenants should call the tenancy board n pay their rent to them not their landloard until the apts are up to standard.Thats the way it used to work.Its worth a call to find out.

  7. 540 has one partcially working washer for the entire building after a fire took out a machine more than a month ago. All contact with property manager Angie Craig has not been acknowledged.

  8. and you know that if they clean the places up the prices will rocket right? I have been living in my apartment in Dartmouth for almost 20 years and got evicted a few weeks ago because the landlord wants this apt for his daughter. And I have been looking at the prices of apartments and im gonna be homeless by may 1st its crazy how people are taking advantages of the covid situation and the people who are suffering the most are the ones on low income .. makes me sick

  9. I lived there about 10 years ago. It was so bad . My place . I had an apt size dryer and if you plugged it into the living room outlets and opened the window you got A shock…….Not to mention the tub if you wanted to shower you had to get on your hands and knees to turn the water on and off after a shower .

  10. I am thinking “their money” is from those folks who rent from them and some of it is to repair and maintain; decent dwellings is part of their business…not charity, imo.

  11. Metcap is a shady company. When you have concerns or issue and try to reach out to their customer service email no one gets back to you, or when you reach out to the property manager they don’t even reach back out. 15 Kennedy also has major issues from 10-13 people living in one unit together, bed bugs, cock roaches which they think pest control is helping and it’s not. They simply just don’t care. I had a fire in my unit and instead of any kind of assistance they preferred we live in it until it was fixed. All your furniture will have to either be tossed and or placed in the cold for all the creatures to stop being in it. It’s absolutely ridiculous.

  12. I just recently moved out of 451 Herring Cove Road madcap Apartments I lived with cockroaches for the last eight months would cause me to have to go to airbnb’s and sleep at hotels they came in twice with Pest Control after hounding them several times and they still will not go away they said they were going to change my floor that was coming up causing a stink in my house about 4 years ago and it never ever did happen I also put a transfer into move and nothing happened as a result of that either they are definitely lacking and I would definitely stand up to metcap in a second

  13. I have been here for five years. As I myself never had any bed bugs or cockroaches in my unit I know that others have, They did however take care of the rodent infestation. Metcap fired their whole metcap staff about a year ago and brought in new ppl. Since then these building have really gone downhill. One cleaner for about 10 buildings isn’t enough and the maintenance men come and go, the last one stayed two months, all they have for staff over here is one man and one woman in office and one cleaner and nobody to fix anything. Metcap sucks for sure no doubt about it, but the ppl I met here are priceless.

  14. If the building was fixed On a regular basis then the people owing the building would not have to fork out as much money at once. Everyone deserves a decent place to live and all landlord should have to ensure the safety and well-being out there tenants. It’s definitely time that low income families to be treated with respect

  15. If the building was fixed On a regular basis then the people owing the building would not have to fork out as much money at once. Everyone deserves a decent place to live and all landlord should have to ensure the safety and well-being out there tenants. It’s definitely time that low income families to be treated with respect

  16. They really have low come families living like bums but they have random people coming here living reallly good . I don’t think it’s fair at all . Just because we have less money we shouldn’t be treated like we are bums we also have children to provide for and bills just as much as the rich or the people that come here .” They are making those condos everywhere as least try making some of those apartments for low come families. Makes sense

  17. Unfortunately, people who are considered Low Income are more than often oppressed by most of their Landlords.
    The tenants are a sure fire cash flow for the corporations and they (the corporations) are in it for just the money.
    Move out and they don’t care as another will step in and take up residence just so they have somewhere to live.
    The tenants need to all come together VIRTUALLY and be in an agreement on getting taking action hard and swift to get the repairs done.
    WITH HOLD THE RENT!!!! NO YOU CAN NOT SPEND IT!!!
    It goes into an account for the Landlord but can not be touch until said repairs are done.
    As long as the rent is paid and in the Account for the Landlord then they can not evict you as the money for each and every month is there.
    When they see that the rent money for those months are not going into their account then they will take notice.

    Get a lawyer to help combat what they are going to come with but be strong and stand your ground!!!

  18. Hey Corey what they need to do is replace these buildings they have out lived there use do to neglect yes back in the day they were the place to but now its a shame to look at these places back about 5-6 years ago I put a bid in on doing some reno work there i met with Metcap they didn’t want to do the job right they just wanted to put some lipstick and make-up on it thats what we call scum lords anyway I didn’t do the work the problem is they don’t want to spend the money which is a shame alot of us in spryfield have have friends and family that live there the city won’t do anything the no one cares about these people as for the Management Company they do care its a shame for the people who live there

  19. Hello from a Free Country:

    I’ll send a request to new Premier Rankin.

    For a free weekend stay at the convention centre hotel.

    Free tickets on the Yarmouth Ferry.

    Then transportation to Boat Harbour for lunch with the Natives and a have a clean glass of water supplied by Northern Pulp.

    Then down to pay my electrical bill with all those savings with that generator in the Minus Basin and all that power from Muskrat Falls. This is what happens when you give away your power grid to Bahamian criminals.

    How about a free lunch with Mr. Glen Assoun who the province is waiting to die so they don’t have to pay for the criminality perpetrated on him by HRM Police and the N.S/ Attorney General.

    Maybe a rousing edition of O’Canada for the negligent homicide of seniors in corporate and government old age care shitholes.
    and
    Now the powers to be are fixing the public judicial inquiry of that nut who killed 22 Nova Scotians.

    May that courage’s lady RCMP Officer rest in peace. She saved a lot of lives and where were the no ball’s men?

    Mr. Stephen Hawking had it right before his death. “What will destroy society is stupidity and greed.”

    Flush the lawyers who’s bullshit is too outrages for the Courtroom and lying Police out of politics is the only hope!

    Lawrence Finck

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