Council Update: Shelter, Housing, Banook Grant, Public Safety

Christ Church Hall, Dundas Street

Agenda, March 21
Agenda, March 7

Shelter Downtown Dartmouth
In Council’s March meetings, there was a bundle of decisions related to housing including a motion I brought forward related to the emergency shelter at the Christ Church Hall on Dundas Street. My request was that the Mayor write the Province to ask that the emergency shelter remain open or that the Province provide alternate space to replace it. The Shelter opened in December and was meant to be an emergency shelter for the winter months. The plan was to close it at the end of March, but the Province extended its operation until May 31. They’ve since notified Christ Church that they’re terminating the lease as of May 31.

Unfortunately, homelessness isn’t going to be solved by May 31. The old approach of closing winter spaces when the need hasn’t gone away makes no sense. Also, not everyone is willing to travel outside of their community and support system. There is a clear need in Dartmouth for shelter space and the summer solution to that problem shouldn’t be an HRM park.

Since my motion, I have heard informally that the Province is taking over all 205 rooms in the Double Tree Hotel by the Macdonald Bridge. The Province has been renting about half the rooms there for a while, but the plan now seems to be to fully rent the hotel. I have no details on this other than hotel staff have been notified. I don’t know how many additional spaces will be provided, how it will be staffed and managed, or whether it will fill Dartmouth’s emergency shelter need. We will all have to wait and see what the Province is planning.

St Vincent’s project next to their existing soup kitchen

Rapid Housing Initiative
Council approved HRM’s participation in the next round of the Rapid Housing Initiative. Under the federal program, HRM is eligible for just over $11,000,000 in funding. HRM’s main role in receiving the Rapid Housing Funding is to facilitate projects and serve as project guarantor. HRM’s main risk is if things don’t go as planned and a rapid housing project isn’t used for affordable housing for the required 20 years, HRM could be obligated to repay funds to CMHC.

HRM made an open call to interested non-profits. Several submitted proposals and the recommended project came from Society of Saint Vincent De Paul. Saint Vincent is planning to build at least 36 units in a new building next to their existing soup kitchen on Brunswick Street in Halifax. The cost of Saint Vincent’s project is more than $11,000,000 and so Saint Vincent and HRM are looking to the Province to contribute $3.5 million to make up the shortfall. The Province has committed to providing operating funding, but whether they also commit to making up the gap in project funding is unknown. Hopefully they will come through.

Density Bonusing Beyond Centre Plan
Efforts by Councillor Morse came to fruition and HRM now has density bonusing requirements for the suburbs (density bonusing was previously only in place in the Centre Plan area). The basic idea of density bonusing is that large projects should contribute towards improvements in the surrounding community. In HRM’s Centre Plan area where density bonusing has been in place for the last three years, most of the funds collected (at least 60%) are dedicated to support non-profit’s that build and operate affordable housing. The remaining 40% is potentially available for public art, park improvements, community/art space, or heritage restoration.

In the suburbs, where a similar Centre Plan type project is underway, but not completed yet, the new density bonusing will apply to projects that require a municipal plan amendment, and in large-scale serviced communities like Morris-Russell Lake. Like in the Regional Centre, funds raised in the suburban areas will be largely dedicated to affordable housing. When the suburban plan is completed, more suburban development will likely be as-of-right and the suburban density bonusing program will likely end up looking more like the Centre Plan.

Getting this interim program in place now was important though to generate funds for housing from large suburban projects that will be completed before the suburban plan is finished. The Centre Plan density bonusing program has generated $4.3 million, allowing HRM to provide funding to two projects. HRM’s next award of funds in the Centre Plan area will happen later this year. It’s good that the same opportunities will now be available in the suburbs.

Future Banook Canoe Clube

Banook Canoe Club Grant
Council approved a one-time grant of $267,000 to Banook Canoe Club to help the Club fund major upgrades to their facility. Banook was constructed in 1903, and several additions were added over the years. The building is a heritage building and plays an important role in life in Dartmouth. The plan is to make the building fully accessible, replace the decking, level out the various floor heights in the hall, and address issues with the foundation. It’s an ambitious plan that is estimated to cost over $4,000,000. The Club has been very fortunate to receive substantial backing from the provincial government, totalling $3,000,000. The Club intends to fundraise to generate the rest and requested HRM assist with a one-time grant of $267,000.

In looking at grants, HRM typically looks for clear community benefit and buy-in from other orders of government. The Banook application has both. Banook is an important non-profit community facility that is a heritage building and part of the fabric of life in Dartmouth. It wouldn’t be Dartmouth without all the paddling activity on Lake Banook, which also brings national and international attention to our community. The Provincial commitment is substantial and the ask of HRM for around 6% of the project’s total cost is very reasonable. I was very pleased that Council approved the grant.

Public Safety Strategy
Big things are a foot in public safety in HRM. HRM approved a new public safety strategy, the thrust of which is to address the root causes of societal problems. HRM’s goal is to be more proactive rather than reacting to problems. This is very much tied to police detasking. Right now, we expect police to deal with crime, but also many social issues that they’re not always well equipped to handle. Policing isn’t going away, but what tasks police are expected to perform will change. My go to example of how this has already occurred before is paramedics. Prior to the 1970s, paramedics didn’t exist and people who needed to be transported to hospital were often moved in either police cars or hearses. Paramedics were such a clearly better way of handling medical emergencies that the profession spread all around the world and it’s hard for anyone to remember a time before paramedics existed. There is a great 99% Invisible podcast on how paramedics came to be that you can listen to here.

Freedom House Ambulance Service in Pittsburgh where paramedics began

The new public safety strategy commits HRM to reforming how we approach public safety and includes commitments for some specific measures such as a sobering centre to replace the drunk tank. HRM is expecting to move to more civilian-led responses for dealing with mental health and homelessness. HRM envisions involving more marginalized communities and developing a centre for public safety expertise. The strategy is a significant piece of the how policing and public safety has to change to fit our changing realities.

Our new CAO seems to be taking this all very seriously and one of her first big moves has been to create a new community safety department. I’m hopeful that we will see significant change in how we approach and think about public safety over the next few years.

Other

  • Appointed new development officers
  • Declared 31 Lister Drive in Bedford surplus and designated the property for use for affordable housing
  • Directed staff to negotiate memorandums with the Provincial government and others who are active in housing and homelessness space to better coordinate collective efforts
  • Provided funding to the Halifax Partnership to run a trades recruitment effort
  • Deferred for at least two years making any changes to the Tax Agreement with the Airport Authority
  • Entered into a less than market value lease with the Independent Living Association of Nova Scotia for the property they’ve been using on Oxford Street for decades
  • Requested more information on a possible Bedford Library project
  • Accepted the JustFOOD Action Plan for Halifax
  • Directed staff to develop a business case for hybrid Council meetings (right now, Council meetings are either virtual or in-person with no ability for Councillors who might be away to participate in-person meetings virtually)
  • First reading for street improvement bylaw changes that reduce the amount that residents are expected to pay through an area rate for paving of gravel roads
  • First reading for bylaw changes around fees for tax certificates
  • First reading for a new bylaw around advertisement on Provincial highways
  • Directed the CAO to provide a report on an Otter Lake community benefits program
  • Finalized changes to for non-profits in HRM’s non-profit tax relief program to pay their bills once a year (better aligning tax relief awards with bill timing)
  • Received a presentation from Halifax Water on their business plan for the year
  • Approved the sale of 1940 Gottingen Street to the Mi’kmaq Native Friendship Centre so that the Centre can redevelop for a new Centre
  • Scrapped the Regional Transit Tax and folded those costs into the general rate
  • Scheduled a public hearing for new development on Westerwalk Street in Fairview
  • Annual write off of bad debts. This year’s total was just over $100,000 which is an exceedingly small amount given the size of HRM’s operations
  • Increased the contract for two garbage trailers
  • Approved heritage grants
  • Requested staff reports on whatever happened to the Beaver Bank Bypass and what happened to a planned but never completed Feely Lake Park in Beaver Bank
  • Scheduled a heritage hearing to consider 6112 Coburg Road as a potential heritage property

2 Comments

  1. I am curious about why HRM is not requiring developers to include 3 bedroom apts in new plans. There is a new building being built on Waverly rd within walking distance of a school. Only 1 and 2 bedrooms. If we required a certain number of three bedrooms to be built families who cannot afford to buy could live in thes areas? Not to mention that couples and singles could share and it would be affordable. Council needs to think out of the box…

    • Hi Sonya. Three bedrooms are frequently a requirement. They’re often in development agreements and in the Centre Plan these are the requirements:

      Dwelling Unit Mix – New Buildings
      64 (1) A new building that contains a minimum of 40 dwelling units shall provide a
      dwelling unit mix as follows:
      REGIONAL CENTRE LAND USE BY-LAW | 64
      (a) in a DD, DH, CEN-2, CEN-1, or COR zone, no less than 25% of all dwelling
      units shall be required to contain a minimum of two bedrooms; or
      (b) in any HR-2 or HR-1 zone:
      i. no less than 20% of all dwelling units shall be required to contain
      a minimum of two bedrooms, and
      ii. no less than 5% of all dwelling units shall be required to contain a
      minimum of three bedrooms

      Unfortunately, three bedrooms continue to be a tough sell. They’re the hardest units to fill. We want to make sure the option is there (hence the requirement), but the market for them just isn’t good.

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