CALL TO ACTION: Rethink HRM’s Housing Accelerator Fund (HAF)

The Halifax Regional Municipality (HRM) and the Government of Canada to IMMEDIATELY PAUSE the current negotiations around HRM’s Housing Accelerator Fund (HAF) application and embark on the development of a better plan for meeting the pressing need for housing in HRM.

THE TIME IS TO ACT NOW AS HRM SEEKS ON APRIL 23RD TO BRING THIS TO FIRST READING THEN BY END OF MAY A PUBLIC HEARING AND FULLY APPROVED BY JUNE.

We fully support the stated intent (goals) of the HAF to:

� Build more homes, faster

� Support the development of communities that are:

� more affordable

� diverse

� climate resilient

These are critical global and local issues that require immediate attention. However, HRM’s current proposal will NOT fulfill the goals of the HAF program; it is ill-conceived and does not make sense within our current context.

What HRM’s Proposal Will NOT Do

HRM’s proposal will NOT result in building more homes, faster.

HRM admits that interest rates, lack of labour, and supply chain issues are the real impediments.

Simply increasing density, allowing higher buildings, and disregarding the planning process, people, and community will not result in more homes, faster.

The upgrades to water and sewer needed to accommodate this level of increased density will take many years to plan and implement.

A alternative is a more incremental approach to densification that does not require major upgrades to sewer, water, and other infrastructure could happen more immediately.

HRM’s proposal will NOT improve housing affordability or diversity.

MARKETPLACE VOLATILITY:

The proposed upzoning will worsen the affordability crisis by increasing land speculation, driving up property values, and incentivizing the demolition of existing affordable housing stock, particularly our diminishing stock of heritage buildings.

HRM’s proposal will NOT promote climate resilience.

The HAF proposal relies heavily on upzoning heights throughout the urban centre and going up to 40 storeys in many locations.

Such scale requires steel and concrete construction, two of the biggest contributors to greenhouse gas emissions world-wide.

Buildings of this scale also create significant negative environmental impacts in terms of wind and shadow on surrounding neighbourhoods.

The widespread upzoning proposed in HRM’s HAF response will also encourage the demolition of existing housing stock and send hundreds of thousands of tons of debris to local landfills.

Need for transit-oriented communities:

Further, HRM’s HAF growth targets anticipate that only 8.85% of new units will be built close to transit. This suggests that those living in the remaining 91%+ of the anticipated new units will be reliant on cars, contributing to greater GHG emissions.