The Chronicle Herald (Provincial)
HOMELESSNESS
Savage said discussions with the province have begun but need to be accelerated. The Progressive Conservative cabinet led by new Premier Tim Houston was sworn in Tuesday afternoon, and includes new Community Services Minister Karla Macfarlane.
“There are options for people who continue to be unhoused and absolutely the provincial government needs to be the leading player in this,” Savage said. “This is in their mandate ... this is what they are supposed to fund.”
Savage said the municipality has shown before and needs to show now that it can be a player in the housing solution.
“We do have some money available to us,” Savage said, alluding to the federal government’s rapid housing initiative, the federal restart fund from late last year and a doubling of gas tax money from the federal government to municipalities.
“This motion is simply designed to authorize action on crisis housing,” Savage said. “This is about immediate crisis housing and it authorizes us to take action.
“It is time, we can do it, I believe we should do it, in fact I think we have to do it, we have to make sure that everybody has a decent place to spend the night. I don’t want to be the mayor of a city where people don’t have the ability to at least spend the night in at least somewhat comfortable conditions and give themselves a chance to achieve their potential.” Dube said homelessness is challenging and complex issue that is a moving target.
“We believe that there are 81 unhoused individuals needing a solution right now,” Dube said.
“Prior to yesterday, there were 26 other individuals who accepted other housing options as a result of this collaborative work that has been going on.”
Dube said there is much more work to do.
“An additional funding of $60,000 was provided by the municipality this past winter to help navigators (Navigator Street Outreach Program) secure short-term accommodations, such as hotel stays as well as increased access to services.”
Dube said it’s very clear that the current short-term accommodation options are not sufficient to meet demand.
He said municipal staff was tasked several days ago to assess municipal properties that could be used for temporary accommodations and to identify other privately owned buildings that could be retrofitted for occupancy before winter.
“So far we’ve identified three potentially viable private sites, two of which require a fit-up ... plus mobile units that can be set up on our (municipal) land,” Dube said.
If all those efforts come to fruition, they would accommodate 40 people, Dube said.
Dube said the $500,000 council approved on Tuesday could be increased if needed in future.
Councillors spoke in support of the motion, some joining the mayor in taking the province to task for not fulfilling its obligations to tackle the housing crisis.
“What we are really focusing on today is the 81 people that the CAO said are living rough right now and also the 380 to 400 people who are chronically unhoused, according to the AHANS (Affordable Housing Association of Nova Scotia) survey that they update monthly” said Waye Mason, councillor for Halifax South Downtown.
“We also recognize that the housing crisis is deeper than that, that the housing crisis includes working-class folks and everyday people who cannot find a place they can afford to live despite having jobs and the shortage of new housing or appropriate housing for an entire spectrum from middle income to the folks who are living rough right now.”
Mason said the motion passed Tuesday is a “shortand medium-term shot in the arm to try to get people out from underneath canvas or nylon and into appropriate and safe housing.”