{"id":5984,"date":"2023-10-17T18:33:48","date_gmt":"2023-10-17T22:33:48","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/backlandscoalition.ca\/?p=5984"},"modified":"2023-10-17T18:38:06","modified_gmt":"2023-10-17T22:38:06","slug":"new-provincial-housing-in-hrm-legislation-risks-commitment-to-sustainability-savage","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/backlandscoalition.ca\/?p=5984","title":{"rendered":"New Provincial Housing-in-HRM Legislation “risks commitment to sustainability” – Mayor Savage"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>The province recently announced new legislation \u201cto get more housing built, faster, in Halifax Regional Municipality (HRM)\u201d (NS Gov News Release, Oct 12, 2023<\/a>).<\/p>\n

It includes, amongst other measures:<\/p>\n

\u2013\u00a0giving the minister authority to make decisions on development in HRM<\/strong>\u00a0without a recommendation from the Executive Panel on Housing or request from the municipality<\/em>
\n\u2013\u00a0granting all variances respecting set backs or street walls<\/strong>\u00a0unless HRM can demonstrate that they materially alter the intent of the municipal planning strategy<\/em>
\n\u2013\u00a0temporarily freezing all municipal permit and development fees<\/strong>, including Halifax Water regional development charges and density bonus charges, for a period of two years; any increase would require ministerial approval<\/em>
\n\u2013\u00a0creating one of Canada\u2019s first trusted partner programs<\/strong>, which will offer qualified developers \u2013 working with certified professionals who have a solid track record of quality developments \u2013 expedited services, allowing them to get shovels in the ground faster.<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

HRM issued an unusually critical statement about the legislation (HRM Oct 12, 2023<\/a>)<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWe should be working together on the housing crisis, advancing common goals,\u201d says Mayor Mike Savage. \u201cThis proposed legislation is an incursion into municipal authority, undermining the public role in thoughtful, responsible planning that supports not only housing but community livability. These measures could undermine our ability to support affordable housing projects, risk our commitments to sustainability, and potentially limit access to municipal services while consolidating power in the office of the Minister.<\/em><\/p>\n

The lack of consultation prior to today\u2019s announcement by the province is of significant concern. While some aspects of the legislation have the support of the municipality, there are several components that are problematic, including freezing all municipal permit and development fees, including those gathered through density bonusing. This will mean the municipality can\u2019t continue to collect funding for the municipality\u2019s Affordable Housing Grant program.<\/em><\/p>\n

The measures announced today do not address the larger issues regarding development and affordable housing \u2013 which include high interest rates, lack of labour and supply chain issues.<\/em><\/p>\n

Within Halifax, our rules allow for many new units to be built, immediately. The municipality has 11,000 units currently under permit as well as development-ready land over 200,000 units. This is the result of thoughtful planning, which includes zoning changes to allow units that can be built as-of-right\u2026\u00a0<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Also view:
\n– \u00a0PCs introduce bill to give N.S. government more say over HRM development<\/a>.
\nCBC Oct 12, 2023, includes videoed interview with Mayor Savage
\n– Municipal officials decry ‘autocratic intrusion’ of Bill 329 to law amendments committee<\/a>
\nCBC Oct 16, 2023<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The province recently announced new legislation \u201cto get more housing built, faster, in Halifax Regional Municipality (HRM)\u201d (NS Gov News Release, Oct 12, 2023). It includes, amongst other measures: \u2013\u00a0giving the minister authority to make decisions on development in HRM\u00a0without … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5984","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-community"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/backlandscoalition.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5984","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/backlandscoalition.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/backlandscoalition.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/backlandscoalition.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/backlandscoalition.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=5984"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/backlandscoalition.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5984\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5989,"href":"https:\/\/backlandscoalition.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5984\/revisions\/5989"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/backlandscoalition.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=5984"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/backlandscoalition.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=5984"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/backlandscoalition.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=5984"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}