Rapid growth: Report shows Halifax needs more housing as population rises over the next five years

Halifax will need to build an additional 38,000 housing units over the next five years to address the housing shortage and account for a population boom, according to a new report.

While the city's population is anticipated to grow to 650,000 by 2037, so will the urgent need for homes.

"As you know we have goals for the growth of the province, so if we’re going to see that kind of growth we need places for people to live," said Nova Scotia Housing Minister John Lohr.

The province’s housing task force has said it hopes to meet those targets and build 7,600 new units each year until 2027.

If targets are met, the Halifax Skyline will look dramatically different in five years. There are already more than 30 tower cranes dotting the skyline and building high rises to meet the demand.

Earlier this here the province commissioned an independent report to examine ways to reduce barriers to housing development.

The consultant, DeLoitte, suggested 15 ideas that can be applied to regulations and zoning, governance structures. It also includes recommendation to strike up a planning team to work with government and developers to streamline construction projects.

"The H.R.M. Housing Task Force is committed to identifying barriers to development, and we've taken some strong immediate first steps over the last year to recommend solutions to the housing crisis and get more stock built in H.R.M.," said task force Chair Geoff MacLellan. "It was important for the task force to hear advice and ideas from an independent third party to ensure we had a fulsome understanding of the issues from all sides.”

Halifax mayor Mike Savage said he’s pleased to see that the recommendations in report and validate the work municipality has already undertaken to increase the housing supply.

"We’ve known for some time that we needed more housing and more units both of the rental side and home ownership side," said Savage. "Our plans are geared for that and we’ll just all have to work hard so we hit those numbers."

Considering Halifax sees an average of 3,000 units built per year, 7,600 units appears to be a lofty target.

While the labour shortage in skilled trades is a challenge, Savage said it's not the only one.

"Rising interest rates are also meaning that across the country a lot of projects are either on hold or being reconsidered because of the rising cost of capital," said Savage.

On Thursday, the province announced a new crown corporation to oversee public housing will be formed. The Nova Scotia Provincial Housing Association will replace the former five regional housing authorities.

Still, the provinces housing minister said they won’t be building new public housing but rather manage services more efficiently.

"Our province is too small to have five separate housing authorities with five separate accounting packages, five separate management procedures for managing their stock," said Lohr. "I think we're in a small province and it needs to be more centralized."

According to the housing task force, the next step is to create a parallel panel to help move projects along.