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  #21  
Old Posted Jan 3, 2013, 8:10 PM
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Originally Posted by Keith P. View Post
Maybe the good Rev. Britton could wait until the application is about to be approved and then play the race card.
Keith, that is totally uncalled for. Given that the courts agreed, it is obviously much more than a one dimensional issue.
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  #22  
Old Posted Jan 4, 2013, 9:24 PM
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Keith, that is totally uncalled for. Given that the courts agreed, it is obviously much more than a one dimensional issue.
Maybe uncalled for, but true...
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  #23  
Old Posted Jan 14, 2013, 2:45 PM
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On Thurs Jan. 17/13 there is an Open House about Affordable Housing starting at 6:00 pm + Presentations and Q&A from 6:30-7:30 pm at the North End Memorial Library, 2285 Gottingen. The Housing Trust of NS has purchased the former MET Store and the former Diamonds Bar site (Gottingen and Prince William) and has prepared redevelopment plans for each property. Current plans include 244 apartment units between the two buildings, with 122 of them allocated for affordable housing, while the other 122 will be market rate apartments. For more information, contact Ross Cantwell at 497-7338 or ross@housingtrust.ca, www.housingtrust.ca.
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  #24  
Old Posted Jan 14, 2013, 6:17 PM
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Does anybody know what is actually happening with this proposal? Have they decided to ask for a variance, or will they be waiting for Centre Plan changes?
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  #25  
Old Posted Jan 18, 2013, 3:00 PM
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It's amazing how these two projects are aimed to help the people that need affordable housing, and they are the ones opposing it.

Quote:
Rent questioned for affordable housing project planned for Gottingen Street

North-end community members say they are open to an affordable housing project as long as it keeps larger families and the input of residents in mind.

During a public meeting at the Halifax North Memorial Public Library on Thursday night, members of the Housing Trust of Nova Scotia shared their proposals for two apartment buildings on Gottingen Street with half affordable housing, half market rate units.

“There’s a huge number of people out there that really need our help,” said Ross Cantwell, member of the Housing Trust board of directors.
http://metronews.ca/news/halifax/514...residents-say/
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  #26  
Old Posted Jan 18, 2013, 3:06 PM
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Originally Posted by Duff View Post
It's amazing how these two projects are aimed to help the people that need affordable housing, and they are the ones opposing it.



http://metronews.ca/news/halifax/514...residents-say/
In their defence, I don't think it's all standard-issue NIMBYism—there should be some provision for larger units that can accomodate families. (I've got no idea what a reasonable rate for affordable housing is, however, so I don't know if the proposed rents are too high or not.)
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  #27  
Old Posted Jan 18, 2013, 3:11 PM
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In their defence, I don't think it's all standard-issue NIMBYism—there should be some provision for larger units that can accomodate families. (I've got no idea what a reasonable rate for affordable housing is, however, so I don't know if the proposed rents are too high or not.)
I know someone who works for the Housing Authority and they said that a lot of their 3 & 4 bedroom units are vacant, or only have 1 or 2 people in them. Families are not as big as they used to be. Maybe there should be a couple units to accomodate a larger family, but I think the majority should be 1-2 bedroom.
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  #28  
Old Posted Jan 18, 2013, 4:46 PM
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Some North End residents seem to feel like they have to personally approve of everything new that is built near where they live, and as an extension that it should all be built to benefit them in some way. Talk about a sense of entitlement!

I have also noticed a "no true Scotsman" attitude toward subsidized housing. The real question is whether or not it provides some good to some people or to the city as a whole (and in a way proportional to the actual subsidy), but people often can't get past looking at the housing in terms of serving their own personal conceptions of poverty, homelessness, etc.
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  #29  
Old Posted Jan 18, 2013, 11:15 PM
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I'm a little annoyed by the comments coming out of the people around the area; I agree with someone's comment about them thinking they are the approval authority. Nope, sorry you aren't.

But I do agree with some of the questions/concerns about 3 bedroom units. I do believe there should be more and if they aren't being occupied, then maybe its an issue of them being really priced higher than they should be?
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  #30  
Old Posted Jan 18, 2013, 11:43 PM
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I have also noticed a "no true Scotsman" attitude toward subsidized housing. The real question is whether or not it provides some good to some people or to the city as a whole (and in a way proportional to the actual subsidy), but people often can't get past looking at the housing in terms of serving their own personal conceptions of poverty, homelessness, etc.
Very true. I love the North End, partly for its inclusivity, but there's an element of uncompromising radicalism (ahem, HCAP) that's not only not beneficial to the community, but wildly unrealistic. They almost seem to want the area to persist as a ghetto, rather than accept the fact of gentrification and try to make the inevitable change include and work for the poor--which they'll have to, unless somehow the North End proves to be a magical exception from every other inner-city neighbourhood in the country.
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  #31  
Old Posted Jan 18, 2013, 11:53 PM
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Well, I see in the Herald article that the good Rev. Britten weighed in and trashed this development as well. Cantwell better be careful he doesn't take him to court and have some pro-bono lawyer throw up a bunch of roadblocks or, worse still, steal the property out from under him. Frankly, the kind of clannishness she and a few others are quoted as saying in the article is pretty disgusting.

http://www.thechronicleherald.ca/met...x-housing-plan

These people are BANANAS when it comes to their 'hood.
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  #32  
Old Posted Jan 19, 2013, 2:15 AM
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Some unhappy with proposed north-end Halifax housing plan

Somebody should award the writer a "blandest headline of the year" award. The actual content wasn't too bad though; Britton was introduced as one speaker of many. In the past she's sometimes been portrayed as a kind of neighbourhood ambassador.
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  #33  
Old Posted Jan 19, 2013, 2:21 AM
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Originally Posted by Drybrain View Post
Very true. I love the North End, partly for its inclusivity, but there's an element of uncompromising radicalism (ahem, HCAP) that's not only not beneficial to the community, but wildly unrealistic. They almost seem to want the area to persist as a ghetto, rather than accept the fact of gentrification and try to make the inevitable change include and work for the poor--which they'll have to, unless somehow the North End proves to be a magical exception from every other inner-city neighbourhood in the country.
The joke on here has been that they should be called the "Halifax Coalition for Poverty". There's a lot of fighting over entitlements for various groups in the North End, but there seems to be comparatively little emphasis on questioning why the people are there in the first place or how they could be made self-sufficient. I think it's a bad thing that Uniacke Square has become so generational, and that there is such a strong line drawn in the sand between those who supposedly should be getting handouts and the supposed gentrifiers. The low-end Theatre Lofts condos started at like $170,000. They aren't for scary come-from-away (in this case maybe meaning 10 blocks away) millionaires.

If HbD-style rules are put in place from the Centre Plan, some people might find that the wind will be taken out of their sails a bit. Right now the ridiculous planning rules in the neighbourhood put a lot of power in the hands of special interests by creating the impression that development happens at their leisure. The "norm" is 28 feet or whatever and you have to please the Rhonda Brittons to get their seal of approval.
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  #34  
Old Posted Jan 19, 2013, 3:17 AM
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The joke on here has been that they should be called the "Halifax Coalition for Poverty". There's a lot of fighting over entitlements for various groups in the North End, but there seems to be comparatively little emphasis on questioning why the people are there in the first place or how they could be made self-sufficient. I think it's a bad thing that Uniacke Square has become so generational, and that there is such a strong line drawn in the sand between those who supposedly should be getting handouts and the supposed gentrifiers. The low-end Theatre Lofts condos started at like $170,000. They aren't for scary come-from-away (in this case maybe meaning 10 blocks away) millionaires.
And, not to dogpile on them too much, but many of them are not even the true-blue North Enders they claim to speak for. A lot are suburb-raised 20-somethings indulging in some poverty tourism, and speaking on behalf of an entire community, not all of whom appreciate it. It's true, I don't think they'd really like to end poverty--there's a certain strain of hardcore activist who sees poverty as an exalted state (unlike the corrupted rich or deluded middle class, etc.)

I'm getting close to making a straw-man argument here, but I'm a leftie, and move in leftie circles, and every now and then run into people with that kind of weird attitude. Not just a North End thing, of course, or a Halifax thing. Everywhere.
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  #35  
Old Posted Jan 19, 2013, 7:36 AM
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CBC had a pretty good clip that was pretty too the point, factual and fair. I thought it was good. When I watched it, I really liked the comment from the Chair of the North End Business Association who basically said (I'm paraphrasing) "I don't know about height, but we just want rules that everyone can know and understand rather than fighting these issues out every time". I was quite happy with that comment.
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  #36  
Old Posted Jan 19, 2013, 3:28 PM
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Originally Posted by Keith P. View Post

These people are BANANAS when it comes to their 'hood.
= Build Absolutely Nothing Anywhere Near Anything...

In fairness a lot of other communities are bananas as well. I expect that they'll end up sorting out the issues and that this will move forward. This project is a bit different from the St. Pat's site for a number of reasons. Just as significant a barrier are holdups at HRM which have apparently caused lengthy delays already.
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  #37  
Old Posted Jan 19, 2013, 5:09 PM
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Here's something interesting I found while doing research, weirdly, for something else entirely.

This map shows the number of people on affordable housing waiting lists across Canada. If you calculate those numbers as a percentage of each city's population, (not metro area, just the city) Toronto and Halifax are the worst. I'm actually a bit surprised that Halifax isn't better off than Toronto in this regard--our median income is about the same, and our unemployment rate and housing costs are both substantially lower. Maybe, of course, it has to do with the poorer, more rural parts of the HRM being included. Or maybe we've just done a bad job of keeping up with demand.

I'm a bit surprised Vancouver has so few, but maybe that's just because the city already has done such a good job, comparatively, of providing affordable housing, keeping its waiting list small.

Anyway, long story short: We need this project.
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  #38  
Old Posted Jan 19, 2013, 7:30 PM
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Just as significant a barrier are holdups at HRM which have apparently caused lengthy delays already.
Despite all the talk I think those are the only real barriers.
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  #39  
Old Posted Jan 20, 2013, 3:27 PM
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Originally Posted by Drybrain View Post
Anyway, long story short: We need this project.
According to the press and the online comments on the stories, these really aren't all that affordable though. They may be affordable in terms of being the cheapest new units close to downtown, but that really isn't the same thing. It is far cheaper to rent in Cowie Hill or parts of Dartmouth than in these units. So who are these "affordable" units really targeting? Or is it just a dodge to try and get something built than is bigger than otherwise possible?
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  #40  
Old Posted Jan 21, 2013, 2:54 AM
halifaxboyns halifaxboyns is offline
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Just as significant a barrier are holdups at HRM which have apparently caused lengthy delays already.
In fairness to HRM - they are an entity that exists at the pleasure of the Province. They are waiting for the Province to adopt changes to the HRM charter to allow density bonusing outside of the downtown. So until that happens; they are stuck. They can't do a DA that has density bonusing in it if the Charter doesn't allow it.

I agree with Keith's comment about affordability though - it seems to me that these aren't really affordable?
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