News 1. Bria’s story “Three years ago, when he was just seven years old, Braxton Dort started making voice recordings with the help of his mother Kara,” writes Joan Baxter: He wanted to tell people about his little sister, Bria, who has a rare genetic disorder called TANGO2. A year later, Braxton decided to turn […]
People’s Park: ‘None of this is sustainable’
A group of volunteers helping people living in tents and emergency shelters at a Halifax park say while they’re cautiously optimistic about regional council’s shift in direction yesterday, the current situation is unsustainable and they need immediate help. Claire Chadwick, a spokesperson with P.A.D.S. (Permanent, Accessible, Dignified, and Safer) Housing Network, said that as of […]
How 27 units of affordable co-op housing in Halifax were sold off for cheap
More than two dozen units of affordable co-operative housing in Spryfield were quietly sold off last year in the midst of the city’s housing crisis. And the government approved the sale. New Armdale Westside Housing Co-operative Limited sold 19 properties to 3340837 Nova Scotia Limited in November 2020 for $1,220,000. The properties are mostly one- […]
Halifax council votes to use $13 million in federal money to fund 85 affordable units, pledges $500,000 in new housing spending
Almost two weeks after the city’s police-enforced eviction of people living in tents and shelters in city parks, Halifax regional councillors are admitting some fault and promising dozens of affordable housing units. It wasn’t on the table beforehand, but housing dominated the first half of council’s all-day meeting on Tuesday, with three items added to […]
Nova Scotia fighting to evict 63-year-old man with terminal cancer from public housing
布莱尔拉乌尔喜欢说他的生活每一天time. The truth is that the crusty 63-year-old, originally from Cape Breton and now living in public housing in Dartmouth, is dying. He has terminal liver cancer, along with a myriad of other health issues, many related to a history of drinking. Raoul is […]
When developers and landlords speak, Tim Houston listens
Consider: "I have calls from people who have lost their rental [investments] because of rent control...” And “what does [rent control] do to those that were thinking about building?” Do you hear the voices of tenants or the homeless or those being priced out of their accommodations in those comments? Didn't think so...
The Examiner asked [Premier-Designate Tim] Houston the following question: As a prominent developer of major commercial and residential buildings, [Scott] McCrea’s Armour Group stands to benefit from PC government decisions around business, taxation, and housing. Does the Premier-designate acknowledge there may be the potential for conflict of interest in allowing Mr. McCrea to influence decisions […]
PRICED OUT, burned out, policed out: the deepening divide between the have-nots and the have-somes
Morning File, Wednesday, August 25, 2021
News 1. PRICED OUT, burned out, policed out Yesterday, the Halifax Examiner introduced our investigative reporting project, PRICED OUT. You can go here for all the details, but I’d like to draw special attention this morning to the public engagement part of the project: Given the breadth of this crisis, we’re asking for your help […]
PRICED OUT
Addressing the Housing Crisis
The images of baton-wielding and pepper-spraying police violently moving protestors from city workers’ path so that people living in tents could be evicted from the Memorial Library lawn and so that shelters could be torn apart with a chain saw is perhaps the most stark recent example of just how dire Nova Scotia’s housing crisis […]
Gaslighting Halifax: how the mayor, a councillor, and the chief of police created a false narrative about the violent eviction of rough sleepers from city parks
Morning File, Friday, August 20, 2021
In the vernacular, the phrase “to gaslight” refers to the act of undermining another person’s reality by denying facts, the environment around them, or their feelings. Targets of gaslighting are manipulated into turning against their cognition, their emotions, and who they fundamentally are as people. — Robin Stern The term “gaslight” refers to Patrick Hamilton’s 1938 […]
Halifax police arrest, pepper spray protesters as city evicts homeless people from parks
Cover photo: Halifax Regional Police officers arrest a protester at the Halifax Memorial Library site on Wednesday. — Photo: Zane Woodford Halifax Regional Police arrested and peppered sprayed protesters, including a child, as they helped city staff remove citizens with nowhere else to go from public land. After months of threats, Halifax Regional Municipality moved […]