Different Understanding of Housing Concerns

The housing emergency in Nova Scotia is increasing daily and the understanding of the problem by provincial political leadership appears to differ in important details with the assessment of the situation by at least one Halifax Regional Municipality Councillor. This development resonates with concerns expressed in the Housing and Ideology post in June 2023. As noted then, political ideology may be a serious obstacle to effective action in the area of housing. 

Housing is a Human Right

Haley Ryan of CBC News reports on differences between the understanding of housing fees and timelines in Halifax between Nova Scotia Premier, Tim Houston, and Halifax Regional Municipality Councillor, Shawn Cleary for District 9, Halifax West Armdale.

Houston said the municipality is taking too long to approve housing projects, while fees for building, construction and waste water have climbed "through the roof" and are too expensive for developers to handle.

Cleary said it's unclear whether it's Houston personally who is not up to speed, his staff, or Housing Minister John Lohr — "but clearly someone is not providing him with correct information." (Ryan, 2023)

Housing Concern	Houston understanding	Cleary understanding
approve housing projects	Taking too long	cut waiting times in half for construction and mixed-use permits,
fees for building, construction and waste water	have climbed "through the roof"	council raised building permit fees by 25 per cent; but following the CPI they would be 69 per cent higher.
Delay in construction	No mention of labour and supply chain issues	labour and supply chain issues are the real holdup right now.
bulldozing forests and putting up all new infrastructure	special planning areas fast-tracked by the province that will create new neighbourhoods.	want developments which are more financially sustainable and more environmentally sustainable
Competitive fees for Halifax		Halifax has the lowest development charges of any major, or other city, across Canada; below the national average when it comes to development charges
waste water and water fees for building projects	have climbed "through the roof"	Halifax Water, not HRM, controls those fees, which are regulated through the Utility and Review Board (UARB).

Haley Ryan expands on some of the details of the difference of understanding between the Premier and the Councillor.

Data that planning staff presented to regional council in August shows Halifax has cut waiting times in half for construction and mixed-use permits, compared to last year. Other permit timelines, including residential, are either below or slightly over their targets depending on the project size.

Development agreements can take the longest, a range of eight months to more than two years, but staff said those lengthier waits are for complicated projects that might need new services or roads — like many of the special planning areas fast-tracked by the province that will create new neighbourhoods.

Fees have gone up in recent years, but not exponentially as suggested by the premier. In 2019, council approved an increase to planning and development fees after a staff report suggested moving them up from 13 per cent of the cost of processing these applications, to 33 per cent. 

As part of this year's budget, council also raised building permit fees by 25 per cent as they had not been adjusted since 1997. A staff report noted that if fees had been increased annually to account for the consumer price index (CPI) up to 2022, they would be 69 per cent higher.

"Halifax actually has the lowest development charges of any major, or other city, across Canada and we're well below the national average when it comes to development charges," Cleary said.

Cleary did agree with Houston on one point — that waste water and water fees for building projects are certainly steep, and Cleary said some could run up to $6,000 a unit.

But, Halifax Water controls those fees, which are regulated through the Utility and Review Board (UARB). (Ryan, 2023)

In the crisis of homelessness that we are experiencing in Nova Scotia, and particularly HRM, one essential criteria for efficient progress on this catastrophe is cooperation between all levels of governments that avoids political “half truths”and acceptance rather than shifting of responsibility.

References

Ryan, H. (2023, September 15). Halifax councillor says N.S. premier's housing comments based on 'sheer ignorance'. CBC. Retrieved September 16, 2023, from https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/nova-scotia/halifax-councillor-says-n-s-premier-s-housing-comments-based-on-sheer-ignorance-1.6968719?cmp=rss

We Want Our Life Back

The cooling system required for the ice pads of the Halifax Curling Club located near the club’s Brussels Street end is nearly 14 feet tall. It rises over the backyard fence and sits 20 feet from the bedroom window of people who have lived here for 38 years and been a good neighbour to the curling club.

Noise from Cooling System

Martin Bauman of the Coast reports that next-door neighbours of the historic club say renovations to the building’s cooling system have made living in their home “intolerable” for the last seven years. 

Ranging anywhere between 70 and 75 decibels, the curling club’s coolant exhaust noise registers somewhere between the hum of a washing machine and the steady rumble of an idling car. It also sits precisely on the cusp of what health and safety authorities deem to be safe for prolonged exposure. The American Speech-Language-Hearing Association says that you can listen to sounds at 70dB “for as long as you want” without risk. But according to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, noises above 70dB “over a prolonged period of time” can cause hearing loss. (Bauman & Williamson, 2023)

A Staff Writer at https://www.reference.com/ has researched acceptable Noise Levels for residential areas.

An acceptable indoor noise level limit for residential areas is 45 decibels. The limit for outdoor areas with human activity is 55 decibels, and the limit of safety before hearing loss is 70 decibels, reports the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency….

Residential area noise levels are abnormal and disruptive when they hinder conversation, sleep and other usual activities and have a general negative impact on quality of life, explains the EPA. Research confirms that high noise levels cause problems such as high blood pressure, stress, loss of productivity and hearing loss. Although the EPA does not directly regulate noise issues, its noise level guidelines provide a basis to help local and state governments set standards. (How Do You Determine an Acceptable Noise Level for Residential Areas?, 2022)

By Law N-200 of the Halifax Regional Municipality, “Respecting Noise” provides some boundaries concerning neighbourhood noise.

BY LAW N-200

3. (1) No person shall engage in any activity that unreasonably disturbs or tends to disturb

the peace and tranquillity of a neighbourhood. (By-Law N-200, Respecting Noise | Halifax.ca, n.d.)

Some activities are enumerated in schedules attached to the By Law document.

Part 2

Activities that unreasonably disturb the peace and tranquillity of a residential area, at the

specified times, where the sound resulting therefrom is audible at a point of reception. (By-Law N-200, Respecting Noise | Halifax.ca, n.d.)

The ice making refrigeration unit at the Halifax Curling Club is not attached to a refrigeration trailer but the noise created should be assessed for similarity to prohibitions cited as Activity 6. 

Activity 6.

The operation of any refrigeration unit which is attached to a refrigeration trailer unless the refrigeration trailer is in motion; (By-Law N-200, Respecting Noise | Halifax.ca, n.d.)

Systems of environmental and mechanical noise mitigation can be engineered and installed to bring life back for a long term neighbour and avoid the financial penalties cited in the Offence and Penalty section of By Law N-200 and even more importantly relieve the membership of the Halifax Curling Club from distress over the disruption to peace and property off a neighbour that reduces their enjoyment on the sport they love.

References

Bauman, M., & Williamson, P. (2023, April 11). Halifax Curling Club draws lawsuit over noise complaints. The Coast Halifax. Retrieved September 12, 2023, from https://www.thecoast.ca/news-opinion/halifax-curling-club-draws-lawsuit-over-noise-complaints-30593206 

By-Law N-200, Respecting Noise | Halifax.ca. (n.d.). Halifax Regional Municipality. Retrieved September 12, 2023, from https://www.halifax.ca/sites/default/files/documents/city-hall/legislation-by-laws/By-LawN-200.pdf 

How Do You Determine an Acceptable Noise Level for Residential Areas? (2022, August 30). www.reference.com. Retrieved September 12, 2023, from https://www.reference.com/world-view/determine-acceptable-noise-level-residential-areas-3d7fbe8280554eaf? 

Getting Back to Building Housing

A previous post, Housing Crisis Recent History, touched on the government decisions that have led to social housing austerity in Canada and the need for a large-scale community-based land acquisition strategy based on sustainable living, not returns for investors.

Housing Crisis in the Suburbs

This curation of opinion urges government to get back in the game in one instance and for less restrictions on development in the backyards of our cities.

Building in our Backyard

Max Fawcett, in an opinion piece in the National Observer, argues that the government needs to return to driving housing construction because he concludes that Pierre Poilievre’s housing prescription doesn’t add up.

Rather than government getting “out of the way,” as Poilievre suggests, it needs to find ways to get back in the game. This is where the Liberals and New Democrats have to come in. We need an alternative to Poilievre’s dumbed-down approach that trades in half-truths and gerrymandered data. We need an optimistic vision of the future in which Canadians aren’t forced to choose between urban sprawl and economic survival. And we need solutions that target the real stress points in our housing ecosystem rather than cutting a blank cheque to politically connected developers.

But Ford did manage to transfer more than $8 billion of wealth onto the balance sheets of a small handful of developers, some of whom just happened to be donors to his Ontario PC Party. And that, in the end, is the more likely priority here for conservatives: not affordability or justice for younger Canadians but the elimination of anything that stands between home builders and their profits. Yes, the private sector has a major role to play in addressing the housing crisis, but it’s one that should be very carefully defined by governments. The sooner they get back into this game, the better off we’ll all be. (Fawcett & Logan, 2023)

The Economist has published an article analysing the growing global movement to restrain house prices. “Yes In My Back Yard” (YIMBY) advocates argue that housing shortages are caused largely by laws that control who can build what and where. Zoning and planning laws, they say, are so strict that building new housing is in many places completely illegal, and in almost all it is slow, difficult and expensive.

Not everyone agrees on everything. YIMBYS range from libertarian-leaning tech types through to self-described socialists, such as John Bauters. He is the bicycle-riding mayor of the tiny Californian city of Emeryville, who allows development because it gives him more rich people to tax. Yet all share one belief: more housing needs to be built, especially in the biggest and costliest cities.

At the higher levels of politics at least, Yimbyism is now practically mainstream in California. “Pro-housing policies are pro-job policies,” tweeted London Breed, San Francisco’s mayor, in July. Gavin Newsom, the state’s governor, promised to build 3.5m homes in a speech for his election campaign. Across the state such politicians are engaged in an increasingly pitched legislative battle with local politicians, such as city council members and the leaders of suburbs, who are generally determined not to build more.

Yimbyism abounds elsewhere, too. In New York this year Kathy Hochul, the state governor, (unsuccessfully) proposed a radical “upzoning”, approving a greater density of housing in a particular area. She argued that it would allow the construction of 800,000 more homes over a decade, primarily by letting more apartments be built around railway stations in New York City’s suburbs. In Canada, Pierre Poilievre, who leads the opposition Conservative Party, wants the federal government to be able to force municipalities to allow more housing construction. Both major political parties in Britain say they want more houses built, no doubt mindful of an election expected next year. (The Growing Global Movement to Restrain House Prices, 2023)

YIMBY proposals

more apartments built around railway stations in suburbs.

federal government force municipalities to allow more housing construction.

“Pro-housing policies are pro-job policies,”

The plans for The M District Future Growth Node in the Halifax Regional Municipality add housing density to redevelopment of a parking area for a shopping centre that is located next to a main transit hub. This plan resonates with the desire to build more apartments near railway stations in New York suburbs. HRM will begin a second phase of public engagement in Fall 2023 once draft planning documents are ready to be presented for comment and feedback. 

WM Fares Architects,on behalf of Rank Inc., has applied to begin a comprehensive planning process to allow the development of the Mic Mac Mall lands bound by Micmac Boulevard, Horizon Court, and Highway 111, identified on the map below. The proposal includes approximately 2,200 new residential units, plus 400 units for retirement living and additional commercial office and retail space built around the existing mall. (The M District Future Growth Node, n.d.)

(The M District Future Growth Node, n.d.) https://s3.ca-central-1.amazonaws.com/ehq-production-canada/e9442aaa2ad3ee97b2fe4ff6f6c6f27a7cd81dc6/original/1684439044/9103f74919d6e082614968facf136e66_3D_Context_View.jpg?1684439044 

An earlier post, Housing and Investment, considers the questions: 

• Is housing a basic human right or an investment?
• Can homes and apartments be commodities and at the same time be considered a basic human need?

These concerns need to be included in the development plans for the M District.

Another earlier post, considers the role of Supply or Speculation in the lack of affordable housing.

Supply or Speculation?

The post, Housing and Ideology, suggests the involvement of the government in building housing has been successful in the past and may again offer the possibility of redevelopment of federal land in the centre of HRM that would include non market affordable housing.

Housing and Ideology

The need to address homelessness in HRM will be immediate as winter approaches. The alleviation of the housing crisis is urgent and requires action to maintain the status of HRM as a place to support living and working.

References

Fawcett, M., & Logan, C. (2023, September 7). Pierre Poilievre's housing prescription doesn't add up. National Observer. Retrieved September 8, 2023, from https://www.nationalobserver.com/2023/09/07/opinion/pierre-poilievre-housing-prescription? 

The growing global movement to restrain house prices. (2023, September 6). The Economist. Retrieved September 8, 2023, from https://www.economist.com/international/2023/09/06/the-growing-global-movement-to-restrain-house-prices? 

The M District Future Growth Node. (n.d.). Shape Your City Halifax. Retrieved September 8, 2023, from https://www.shapeyourcityhalifax.ca/the-m-district-development

Roberts, J. (2021, September 17). Fixing Canada's housing crisis will require bold socialist politics ⋆ The Breach. The Breach. Retrieved September 5, 2023, from https://breachmedia.ca/fixing-canadas-housing-crisis-will-require-bold-socialist-politics/