Jen Powley responds to Waye Mason’s op-ed in the Chronicle Herald earlier this month. “While Mason argues that the province needs to build more affordable units, he and his municipal colleagues keep selling off land on the peninsula that could have been a home for affordable housing.”
A sidewalk closure on Young Street requires pedestrians, wheelchair and mobility scooter users to take a detour of more than 500 metres to access essential services.Staff and leadership must dig deeper and look further to ensure their policies and approach to access and infrastructure includes everyone and prioritizes the least able in much more than words and aspirations.
A group of ten community organizations and members are calling on the Halifax Regional Municipality to abandon its plan to remove temporary shelters from public property today, on July 13, 2021. Whatever its public justifications, what is happening is that the city is reacting to those who view the shelters as eye sores and their residents as bad for business and property values.
PSA: Halifax Mutual Aid response to the city’s July 13 ultimatum. “We can not in good conscience put people in a worse situation than they are currently in.”
The city of Halifax is telling people living in crisis shelters to leave their temporary homes by June 13, or they will call the cops and make it so. Councillors should stop hiding behind an amorphous city and become accountable for the city’s actions.
Media release: HRM’s response to significant public concerns over two massive Spring Garden Road high-rises that will overwhelm and negatively impact the entire historic Carlton Street neighbourhood has been to give the developers even more height.
“Queer and trans youth understand that reporting sexualized violence is not a safe option for them because they feel, and rightfully so, that they will not be believed and that their cases will not be understood within the current legal system.” Carmel Farahbakhsh of the Youth Project addresses the Subcommittee to Define Defunding the Police.
Martha Paynter in her submission to the Define Defunding the Police working group on behalf of Wellness Within: “Defunding requires changing how we think about security. It means removing these responsibilities from police and returning them to government and community resources offered by individuals trained in supporting our most vulnerable. Defunding should respond to the needs of the community and could look like support for local safe injection sites, sobering centres, restorative justice programs, and mental health crisis teams.”
On Sunday about 150 people weathered the afternoon heat to participate in the Rally to Save the Shelters at the vacant old library on Spring Garden Road. Stephen Wentzell was there to tell you all about it.
Inclusionary zoning allows a municipality to mandate a certain percentage of affordable housing in new developments. With an affordable housing crisis growing more urgent by the day, why don’t we use this tool in Nova Scotia? Stephen Wentzell investigates.