Halifax council designates vacant lots suitable for affordable housing

A number of surplus properties were designated for affordable housing projects at Tuesday morning’s Halifax Regional Council meeting.

Seven vacant lots in total were on the list of properties owned by the city deemed to be surplus and potentially suitable for development.

“We have a number of parcels of land, as do other orders of government within HRM, that we think could be used, other than just sitting there but be used in particular for affordable housing,” says Mayor Mike Savage.

The properties are located throughout the HRM, something housing advocates like Vicky Levack support.

“People should not be forced to live in a particular area just because that’s where the affordable housing is. It should be scattered so we can have mixed neighbourhoods,” Levack says.

One of the potential sites in Bedford was removed from the list.

“First of all, the residents didn’t see this coming,” says the area’s councillor Tim Outhit.

Secondly, Outhit says he’s not sure the land is safe because of the presence of power lines.

“Affordable housing does not mean anything, everywhere under any circumstances. What it means is that we want to have affordable housing, but we still want to make sure that that land is suitable for residential development. So yes, I support it, but there still has to be rules and regulations,” says Outhit.

The motion to designate the properties suitable for the development of affordable housing, with amendments, passed.

With the properties approved as surplus, HRM’s affordable housing team will now determine the guidelines needed to make development opportunities available.