KJIPUKTUK (Halifax) – With affordable housing at such a premium everywhere in Nova Scotia people are pointing at vacant lots and empty buildings in towns and cities all across Nova Scotia and wondering why we can’t do better.

Now there is an interactive mapping application, This should be housing, that exposes the extent of these opportunities. It’s the brainchild of lorax b. horne, a Halifax journalist and writer, who was inspired to build the interactive map after seeing the Halifax Mutual Aid’s This should be housing stickers.   

The map is interactive, so if you know about a vacant building that could be turned into affordable housing you can drop a pin yourself.

“I am tired of seeing community spaces like the Bloomfield Center (@imaginebloomfld)  pass from vibrant features of the landscape into disused vacants. The city then justifies selling off more real estate to private development, and washes their hands when we have nowhere to live,” Horne wrote on Twitter.

Bloomfield is indeed a great example of lost opportunities.

In 2012 the then NDP government proposed to acquire the old school on Agricola Street and create 191 affordable units. It didn’t last. In 2016 the new Liberal government ditched the idea and that was the last we heard of it. 

It wasn’t viable, we were told.

That may be true, but that was only so because the city insisted on treating the Bloomfield development as a commercial project like any other. The province was competing with several commercial developers and had to fork out $15 million just to get out of the starting block.

That $15 million was taxpayer’s money, to be paid to a city that operates on taxpayer’s money. One hand paying the other hand. It doesn’t make sense.

See also: Imagine Bloomfield: Lament for a great idea

As the map clearly shows, even at this early stage there are plenty more Bloomfields out there.

Shannon Park, the federally owned former military housing complex is one of them. Nova Scotia ACORN believes that now vacant land should be used for affordable housing rather than $1500/month condos.   

And yes, the new convention centre in downtown Halifax is already on the map, to a large extent empty and losing (our tax) money even at the best of times, let alone now during the pandemic. 

This is how This should be housing summarizes the case for converting the Nova Centre.

“The Nova Centre was built with hundreds of millions of dollars of public money – we even gave away a block of Grafton Street! And what did we get for that? We agreed that the city government would be liable for any losses on the project, which so far has been significant! It was a great deal for the developers. Now, in the midst of a housing crisis made immeasurably worse by politicians and rich developers, let’s take this building back! Huge sections remain empty – built with public money and rightfully to be used by the public.”

When I lived in Amsterdam in the seventies the lack of affordable housing caused people to occupy empty buildings there and elsewhere in the country. 

It was both a protest against real estate speculators who weren’t interested in providing housing, and a direct action born of necessity, because these people literally had no roof over their head.

That was at a different time, and in another country. The dutch “krakers” or squatters were successful because they had broad public support, and also because there were unintended legal protections that made eviction difficult once an occupied space was established as a home.

But with landlords chopping at the bit to increase rents by hundreds of dollars as soon as the Covid emergency is lifted, the need to keep pressing all levels of government to act rather than study and tread water is clear. In that context This should be housing is a wonderful tool to help keep the pressure up.

See also: Making housing a human right: Report issues 100 recommendations for a housing-secure Nova Scotia

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KJIPUKTUK (Halifax) – Gentrification of the Halifax North End is a real thing, and as so often, it’s Black people who are paying the price.

“The Black population in the North End was relatively constant from the 1970s until 2006. But between 2006 and 2016 the Black population of the North End dropped by half, by over 700 people. The North End up to North Street was 30% Black in 2006, According to Statistics Canada data in 2016 that number was down to below 15%.” 

That’s what Ted Rutland, an Associate Professor, Geography, Planning and Environment at Concordia University, told the Nova Scotia Advocate when we interviewed him last year about his fascinating book on planning and racism in Halifax. 

Meanwhile, the secretive sale of the Bloomfield Centre shows once again that stopping gentrification and creating affordable housing is not a priority in this city, or indeed, this province. 

We mere mortals first heard rumors of the sale in December. Earlier this month Mayor Mike Savage told the Chronicle Herald that yes, the former school in the North End was sold in July, and the $40 million sale approved by Council in September. 

This happened despite efforts by the community group Imagine Bloomfield to stop the sale and have its voice heard. Some 1700 people signed its petition, but never mind, The purchase and sale agreement has progressed beyond this point of rethinking, Savage told the Herald.

Community space, artist studios, green space, and heritage preservation, all these are important and valid concerns, but it’s the lack of affordable housing that warrants a closer look.

Councillor Lindell Smith posted on Facebook that 10 percent of the proposed residential units must be deemed “affordable”. Affordable is of course a stretchable concept, with a termination date built in, and in terms of numbers a mere pittance in view of what is needed, 

There was a time when the Bloomfield development promised to make a real difference. In 2012 the then NDP government proposed to acquire the old school and create 191 affordable units. It didn’t last. In 2016 the new Liberal government ditched the idea and that was the last we heard of it. 

It wasn’t viable, we were told.

That may be true, but that was only so because the city insisted on treating the Bloomfield development as a commercial project like any other. The province was competing with several commercial developers and had to fork out $15 million just to get out of the starting block.

That $15 million was taxpayer’s money, to be paid to a city that operates on taxpayer’s money. One hand paying the other hand. It doesn’t make sense.

If the province and the city truly cared about affordable housing and gentrification they’d develop Bloomfield together, create lots of affordable housing, and make a real difference.

With a special thanks to our generous donors who make publication of the Nova Scotia Advocate possible.

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KJIPUKTUK (Halifax) – Halifax’s new council has some important decisions to make.  But one of the first ones  is how to spend the federal government’s  $8.7 million on affordable housing within the next year. Council has a month to come up with a plan

Jen Powley, writer, urban planner and former candidate for Halifax council, has made a brilliant suggestion here. As did Robert Devet, the editor of the Nova Scotia Advocate here. Why not use the old Bloomfield School and community site to situate affordable and accessible housing?  Perhaps the existing buildings could be retrofitted.  If not, the money could be used for building townhouses or a low-rise apartment building. As far as we know, Bloomfield has not been sold yet to a developer—it is handy to downtown Halifax, and on many bus lines.  

Why pay developers to build affordable housing?

Will HRM Council support that brave idea? Maybe not. Maybe the old guard on council prefers to pay local developers to supply the housing. To be clear, that would mean public money going to subsidize private developers to supply Haligonians with affordable housing. If so, the city would divide up the  $8.7 million and parcel it out to developers willing to lease ten or more apartments at affordable rents in the developers’ almost completed, near-luxury high-rise buildings. In this way, the city would hand over the federal grant more or less directly to the developers. 

Another idea is that the city approaches the three largest universities in HRM– all of which have student residences either not in use or under-used in these Covid-times. HRM could rent the first three floors of various student residences, and pay to convert them into one or two bedroom apartments.  That way, some money will go to help out the universities, which  can then rent out the apartments to families in the now “mixed” neighbourhood of the university campus. The universities will then be able to collect rents, and have at least part of their buildings occupied. The universities might like that idea. 

Greenfield site could turn into a low income ‘ghetto’

Finally HRM could use a piece of land it already owns, an out of the way undeveloped site often dubbed a Greenfield site. The city could build about 50 townhouse or apartment units which could then be rented out at affordable rents. Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC) says affordable rent means rent that is no more than 30% of a household’s gross income.  But the city has to be careful not to make the new site a low-income ghetto; mixed housing is a better idea. The city must also ensure reliable bus service to the new housing development – as most low income people don’t have cars and rely on transit.

These are four ideas of what and how HRM could use the $8.7 million they have been allocated for housing.  Which one do you think HRM will go for?  My bet is on giving money to private developers to each provide a handful of affordable apartments in their new buildings. Unfortunately, this is the worst idea – after all why do we have to spend good public money to woo developers to provide us with affordable housing? It’s time we did it ourselves. Powley’s plan is the best.

Judy Haiven is on the steering committee of Equity Watch, a Halifax-based organization which fights bullying, racism and discrimination in the workplace. You can reach her at equitywatchns@gmail.com

With a special thanks to our generous donors who make publication of the Nova Scotia Advocate possible.

Subscribe to the Nova Scotia Advocate weekly digest and never miss an article again. It’s free!

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KJIPUKTUK (Halifax) – The Imagine Bloomfield people are right to be pissed off about the sale of the Bloomfield school site by the city. 

The community group worked hard to articulate a community-endorsed plan that included a publicly-owned arts and community centre. Nonetheless, the city couldn’t even be bothered to give the group a courtesy call prior to putting the property up for sale. 

Meanwhile, the earlier requirement for potential developers to maintain 30% of outdoor space is watered down to 20%. 

For me the really sad thing is what the sale means for affordable housing, something that is desperately needed in the rapidly gentrifying North End.

The current conditions around the sale require the successful bidder to commit to 10% of the residential units to be affordable for at least 50 years. We should always question what affordable means in this context, but this is not the fundamental issue.

I am still shaking my head over the province’s decision in 2016 to pull out of the Bloomfield project.

This is what happened.

In 2012 the city put the Bloomfield property up for sale for the first time. Housing Nova Scotia was the successful bidder, beating Dexel Developments and Urban Capital/Killam.

According to a staff report to Council at the time Dexel’s proposal included 36 affordable housing units.  Killam’s offered up 18 affordable units.

Both these bids were well below the 20 percent of affordable housing stipulated in the Request for Proposal. Since this part of the bid was only worth a mere ten percent of the total score the companies must have decided they’d just take the hit.  

Meanwhile, the province committed to create 191 affordable units. 

That was in 2012 when the NDP was in power. In 2016, when Housing Nova Scotia abandoned the project, it was the Liberals’ Joane Bernard who made that announcement.

“After hearing from, and seriously considering, feedback from stakeholders and the people involved, we have decided that Housing Nova Scotia will no longer proceed as developer for this project,” Bernard, Minister of Community Services stated in a news release. 

As the 2012 debacle illustrates, private developers want to make money. They don’t want to build affordable housing because it pushes their profit margin down.

I remember lots of people at the time saying how the province was in over their head, only the private sector can do a project of this magnitude, and other self-serving private sector myths. 

Let’s not discount that the  government’s 2012 bid, at $15 million was $5 million higher than the next highest bid by Dexel. 

Those things happen when you invite closed bids. It guarantees a maximum profit for the seller.

But is profit what we are all about?  Why make government compete with private developers in the first place? Why a bidding process where negotiation between two levels of government would have been more appropriate?

Housing is a human right, and the provincial government has an obligation to provide it, and similarly the city has an obligation to facilitate that effort.  

It didn’t happen. Such a pity.

With a special thanks to our generous donors who make publication of the Nova Scotia Advocate possible.

Subscribe to the Nova Scotia Advocate weekly digest and never miss an article again. It’s free!

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“After hearing from, and seriously considering, feedback from stakeholders and the people involved, we have decided that Housing Nova Scotia will no longer proceed as developer for this project,” said Joanne Bernard, Minister of Community Services in a news release.

Clearly that feedback process didn’t take three years. That file was collecting dust somewhere for most of that time.

Just for that delay Bernard should be embarrassed.  But the more serious issue is what the decision will mean for affordable housing in the Halifax North End.

There is a notion that a private developer is better suited to  tackle a project of this magnitude, because, well, it’s private, don’t you know.

Maybe so.

There were two private developers among the finalists in 2012, Dexel Developments and Urban Capital/Killam.  

According to a staff report to Council at the time Dexel’s proposal included 36 affordable housing units.  Killam’s offered up 18 affordable units. Drops in a bucket stuff.

Both these bids were well below the 20 percent of affordable housing stipulated in the Request for Proposal. Since this part of the bid was only worth a mere ten percent of the total score the companies must have decided they’d just take the hit. I am guessing here.

The province committed to 191 affordable units.  191 affordable housing units is a lot more than 36.  

Housing Nova Scotia was handicapped from the beginning, because their bid was too high, is the other thing you hear a lot.

True.  The  government’s bid at $15 million was $5 million higher than the next highest bid by Dexel.  

Those things happen when you invite closed bids. It guarantees a maximum profit for the seller.

But is profit what we are all about?  Why have government compete with private developers in the first place? Why a bidding process where negotiation may be more appropriate?

After all, private developers want to  make money. We look at governments, municipal and provincial, not to mke money, but to make a serious dent in the affordable housing deficit in the North End.

After walking away from Bloomfield, Housing Nova Scotia will now “focus on its core mandate of expanding affordable housing options for renters and repairing existing affordable housing,” states the government’s press release.”

Strange. I thought that was what the Bloomfield project was all about.

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