9 emergency units planned for HRM

“There’s a lot of fear when it comes to issues around drug addiction and mental health, that was probably the dominant piece.”

Coun. Sam Austin

Temperatures are falling and plans are coming together for emergency accommodations in Halifax and Dartmouth.

The municipality sent out an update that says nine modular units will be installed in Halifax to house 44 people. An announcement of exactly where in Halifax the modular units will go is expected later this week.

The units should be finished in January.

In Dartmouth, crews are digging at what will be the site of emergency accommodations in a parking lot off Alderney Drive. The four housing units will arrive this week and should be finished by Dec. 30. They will house up to 24 people and each resident will have their own heated room and share bathrooms and a kitchen.

When people can move in will be up to the province

and Out of the Cold Community Association. Also noted in the update, temporary shelters are being placed on church properties by the Archdiocese of Halifax-yarmouth. The municipality is prioritizing permits for these projects and are required to meet municipal building standards.

It is estimated to cost $1.41 million for the Dartmouth site purchase, installation and maintenance, while the Halifax side will come in around $1.69 million.

NEIGHBOURHOOD MEETING

Coun. Sam Austin (Dartmouth Centre) hosted a neighbourhood information meeting Monday night for residents who live in the area to ask questions and about 70 people attended. Erica Fleck, HRM’S assistant chief of emergency management, was there as well as other city staff, representatives from the Halifax Regional Police and Out of the Cold Community Association.

In an interview Tuesday, Austin said the room was divided between people who were there to support the project, those who were supportive but had concerns, and others who outright didn’t want it in their neighbourhood.

The biggest concerns centred on safety and what the project will look like, Austin said.

“There’s a lot of fear when it comes to issues around drug addiction and mental health, that was probably the dominant piece,” Austin said.

“One of the things to keep in mind is we have homeless people in our community now, right? This isn’t dropping a group of people into downtown Dartmouth from nowhere. They are part of our community already – I know of three encampments in downtown Dartmouth,” he said.

The modular units will make it more visible but unhoused people are a part of the community already, Austin said. He also noted that this project will have wraparound services provided by Out of the Cold with staff on site all the time, and HRP will respond if there are any problems.

As for the question of what it would look like, Austin compared it to a remote work camp with trailers.

“We had a fair bit of discussion about maybe we end up doing some planters or landscaping, or maybe there is a place-making community art project that happens there because it should feel like a home.”

There’s no doubt it will stick out, however, as HRM has nothing like it until now, he said.

The emergency housing project is expected to stay for about three to five years and will house some of the people seeking shelter right now at the Grey Arena in Dartmouth. There are currently more people staying at the Grey Arena than there are spots in the modular units and Austin said they are working on options for them.

“Using the Grey as a homeless shelter was always meant to be a short-term, emergency type thing because the Grey is supposed to have ball hockey and lacrosse going on and that’s creating a knockdown effect on our recreation,” he said.