The Chronicle Herald (Provincial)
Affordable housing to replace parking lot
A parking lot in north-end Halifax will soon be home to two buildings with 57 affordable housing units.
Through the National Housing Strategy Federal Lands Initiative, the federal government announced Thursday it will give $1.5 million to the Compass Nova Scotia Co-operative Homes Ltd. to acquire land on Maitland Street where the buildings will go.
“The cost of land becomes a significant factor in the cost of providing housing,” Halifax MP Andy Fillmore said.
“This is going to make that under-performing land homes for people.”
The province of Nova Scotia also committed $3 million towards the development.
The six-storey low-rise buildings will have 27 and 30 units, respectively.
“Importantly, it will include a mix of one-, two- and threebedroom units, and this will mean the development is accessible to a huge range of household types, something we desperately need in the HRM,” Karen Brodeur, president of Compass Nova Scotia Co-operative Homes, said.
Brodeur said the developments are currently in the predevelopment phase and the non-profit housing co-operative will work with the northend community throughout the project's entirety, including choosing who will live in the buildings.
“We will be looking to the larger community to be actually participating in a collaborative approach to that to ensure that people in the north end who have been displaced in the past are able to find a way to potentially come back and use some of these units as homes,” Brodeur said.
Construction is to tentatively begin in early 2022 and is expected to be completed in 12-18 months after.
The north-end developments are the latest affordable housing projects in Halifax.
In November, Halifax regional council selected three non-profit organizations to share $8 million in federal funding to create affordable housing options for women, urban Indigenous people and African Nova Scotians.
“Here in Halifax as our city has grown, we've seen access to affordable housing struggle to keep pace with the population increase,” Fillmore said.
“The situation has become even more dire with the current pandemic. As we've sheltered in place to stop the spread of COVID-19, our homes have become a place of safety and refuge, but in a time of crisis the hardest hit are often the most vulnerable.”