The CBRM is one of 41 Canadian municipalities “pre-determined” to receive funding (worth $5 million) under the third round of the federal government’s Rapid Housing Initiative (RHI), one component of its National Housing Strategy.
The announcement, which I completely missed, was made on November 10, but council didn’t get around to discussing it until December 9 and when it did, it did so in camera, using clause 22 (2)(e) of the Municipal Government Act (MGA)—”contract negotiations”—as the excuse.
To be clear: one level of government is offering another level of government public money for affordable housing, and our council felt that was a matter best discussed behind closed doors.
Having had their preliminary discussions in secret, councilors were ready to let the rest of us in on their deliberations on Tuesday, December 20, a mere 40 days after the federal announcement. (Can you say, “rapid?”)
Councilors voted to accept the money, which is to be used to “build new housing and/or purchase existing buildings that will be rehabilitated or converted into permanent affordable housing.”
The good news is that “affordable” as defined by the RHI means “tenants pay no more than 30% of their before-tax income on housing costs or the equivalent of the shelter component of any provincial or territorial income assistance.” The less good news is that the units need to remain affordable for just 20 years (to understand the problem with this, see this earlier article on affordable housing.)
Planning director Michael Ruus underlined some key considerations in his memo to council, including the fact that “rapid” means construction must be completed and tenants in residence within 18 months of the project being approved (which should happen by mid-March); and second, that any cost overruns or annual operating deficits would be the responsibility of the municipality unless the province agrees to assume future operating expenses.
Ruus also noted that the CBRM can contract with a third-party to deliver the housing but that the municipality is the “the only signatory to the contribution agreement” and is responsible for the outcomes of the initiatives.
Speed is of the essence
Tuesday’s discussion was interesting because where Ruus’ memo (dated December 6) seemed very wary of the CBRM participating in this program, CAO Marie Walsh, who had spoken to provincial officials in the meantime, and Mayor Amanda McDougall, who had spoken with John Lohr, Minister of Municipal Affairs and Housing, both seemed far more comfortable with the idea.
McDougall said Lohr said the provincial government was prepared to support the initiative and fund the operational side. Walsh also said she was comfortable that the province would cover the difference between the “very low” rents and the amount needed to operate the facilities.
Some councilors expressed the (to my mind, understandable) concern that this represented an attempt by the province to download responsibility for housing onto municipalities, but neither the Mayor nor the CAO seemed to feel this was the case.
Furthermore, Mayor McDougall said she’d had the chance to speak with Halifax Mayor Mike Savage, whose city had already received RHI funding and who offered the expertise of his staff to advise the CBRM on project selection and delivery. McDougall said HRM had put some of its RHI money, received at the height of the pandemic when construction costs were soaring, into a contingency fund and was also able to access additional funding through the federal Reaching Home program.
District 8 Councilor James Edwards pointed out that Cape Breton Building Trades Council was reporting a shortage of workers prior to Fiona and that the hurricane has only exacerbated the situation. Nobody seemed to have an answer to this. (Imagine if we lose out on the possibility of building housing for people in need because all our builders are too busy constructing a waterfront campus for a community college that already had a perfectly good home? And no, we can’t just turn the new campus into affordable housing—I checked and projects begun before August 2022 are not eligible. I think this is a “whole in jest, half in earnest” proposal on my part.)
As for potential third-party partners, District 10 Councilor Darren Bruckschweiger asked about New Dawn, which has apparently already approached the municipality about partnering on rapid housing. Mayor McDougall said numerous community groups approach the municipality about the possibility of turning surplus properties into housing and the CBRM will have to establish a process for vetting potential partners.
All councilors agreed there was a need for what is termed “deeply” affordable housing in CBRM—Bruckschweiger, who’s been an elected official for decades, said that for the first the time in his career he’s receiving regular calls about homelessness.
Let’s hope we can actually do something about it.
Tartan Downs
In related news, the province announced on Monday it will:
…allocate $5 million to the Tartan Downs housing project in Sydney, a mixed-use development that will include student housing. Cape Breton University and the Urban Neighborhood Development Association are partnering on this significant project at the site of the former Tartan Downs racetrack.
I reported in detail on this project when it was presented to CBRM council back in March. The “Urban Neighborhood Development Association” is a convenient fiction, a board stacked with CBU officials that has clearly served its purpose if the province has agreed to give it money. Now to see if the federal government will be equally accommodating.
Tartan Downs, Completed Development
(The project would not be eligible for RHI funding because it employs a different definition of “affordable,” one that involves providing a certain number of units at 80% of market rent.)
CBU certainly needs student housing, a fact that was made brutally clear this week when a Park Street duplex, crammed with international students, caught fire, resulting in the death of a student working in his attic room. (Nicole Sullivan at the Post reported there were six tenants in the house until new landlords decided to convert their common space into a shared bedroom, bringing the head count to eight.)
Sullivan’s story suggests the house wasn’t equipped with functioning smoke detectors.
If that’s true, and this is a case of landlords prioritizing profit over tenants’ safety, then they must answer for this student’s death.
But what of CBU, which continues to bring in students it does not have the capacity to house? Foreign students who, by definition, require accommodation make up the majority of its student body (4,000 of about 5,900) and yet, it has the capacity to house just 424 students on campus.
Nor can the surrounding area take up the slack—it’s widely acknowledged that students have a very hard time finding off-campus accommodation in CBRM. And the students Sullivan talked to said they wished CBU had provided more guidance in terms of their rights as tenants.
And where is the municipality in all this? Why are landlords permitted to rent such unsafe properties? Do we not have applicable by-laws? Could we not enforce them?
My fondest hope for 2023 is that we do better by these students, who add so much and are such a welcome addition to our community.
Featured image: Houses by Juniper Littlefield via the Affordable Housing Association of Nova Scotia
