A quartet of cranes in north-end Halifax in September 2021. - Ryan TaplinDarlene Grant Fiander is president of Tourism Industry Association of Nova Scotiahave fallen very short of its intended mandate of ensuring access to sustainable and affordable housing.
The report does not outline how to ensure increased access to affordable housing. Just because there is more supply, this does not equate to affordable housing. The city that just proposed a three per cent climate tax is all in for development that contradicts the principles of greenhouse-gas reduction and community sustainability.
As an organization, the Tourism Industry Association of Nova Scotia wrote the HRM housing task force in early 2022, noting that one solution for increasing rental inventory was stronger regulation around short-term rentals in HRM. So we would challenge the chair of the HRM housing task force, who has indicated he is taking bold and innovative steps supporting the Deloitte recommendations that were written on the advice of 35 individuals, including government officials and developers.
I would encourage all HRM residents to pay attention to this report and its proposed direction, or we may not recognize our future communities. While this is a provincial task force, it mirrors the “development at all costs” approach that the current HRM council has endorsed to date. For some reason, they equate success with the number of high-rises and cranes in the sky.