Halifax renews push for development tool to address ‘historic wrongs’ in Black communities

Halifax’s North End has changed dramatically in the past decade, and Treno Morton can’t help but wonder what it would look like if its established Black residents had a real say in how it grew.

New apartments and condos have brought in more residents and businesses, but bump up against public housing and buildings that were once affordable.

“Once it’s all said and done and the development’s finished, you don’t see anyone of African Nova Scotian descent living in these buildings,” Morton said.

Morton, of the North End Halifax New Roots Community Land Trust, is among multiple residents — and the municipality itself — calling for the province to change legislation that would allow Halifax to create community benefit agreements.

These agreements would grant communities legal standing in new projects, so residents could require affordable housing, green space, or jobs as part of a development.

In November 2022, Halifax officially asked the province to change the city charter to allow for these agreements, and Mayor Mike Savage wrote a letter urging the move in 2023.

They might have changed what happened with former north-end school sites like St.Patrick’s-Alexandra or Bloomfield, Morton said, which are still sitting vacant.

“Perhaps we would have saw that community centre that we wanted to see, and the developer could have still had his 15- to 20-storey tower,” Morton said about St. Patrick’s-Alexandra school, which closed in 2010.

Under the city’s density bonusing program, developers get extra size or height in exchange for paying fees that go into a fund for non-profit housing organizations or public art. Municipal staff are also working on an affordable housing strategy that could include tools like inclusionary zoning, which requires new buildings to keep some units affordable. 

But, while both of those options can include community input, they don’t bring residents to the table in an equal decision-making way.

Carolann Wright, executive director of the African Nova Scotian Road to Economic Prosperity, lived in Toronto for years where these agreements are often used. She said she was “really surprised” to find Halifax didn’t have them when she moved back to the city.

The agreements were also used in Vancouver to ensure community centres and affordable housing came out of the 2010 Olympics, and the city brought in a formal policy in 2018 that applies to large-scale developments.

Wright, who meets with Black communities across the province, said she sees people “light up” when they learn about land trusts, zoning changes or community benefit agreements that could make an impact where they live.

“We have an opportunity to really have our communities the way that we want them, to do the things that we probably never imagined years ago,” Wright said.

“We can also redress some of those historic wrongs that have been done as a result of policy that’s been oppressive, and policy that really dismissed the needs and wants and desires of the community.”

The historic Black community of Upper Hammonds Plains has also seen rapid growth, but had success last year when the Halifax Regional Municipality tightened local zoning laws.

However, Curtis Whiley, board member of the Upper Hammonds Plains Community Land Trust, said that’s only a temporary measure. He said their area will need benefit agreements to ensure the community isn’t eroded further.

“I think any community, any group of people that are, you know, tied to a place and really feel that sense of community, ought to consider one and ought to support those that are advocating for them,” Whiley said.

“It’s just another way for us to be able to solve a number of issues and feel more secure in the communities we live in.”

A provincial spokesperson said Municipal Affairs Minister John Lohr responded to HRM last summer to let Savage know that the department’s strategic policy and planning division would be in touch with municipal staff, and those discussions continue.

Coun. Lindell Smith said Wednesday he’d just learned that provincial staff had indeed reached out to Halifax this week, and is hopeful there has finally been some movement.

“I hope the province sees that there’s actually more benefit in allowing communities to be part of how they develop than not,” Smith said. “In my opinion, it’s a win-win for everybody.”

The city’s African descent committee recently passed Smith’s motion calling for regional council to direct Savage to write again to the province about the issue. That has been deferred given the new conversations with the province, but Smith said it may come back depending on the outcome of those talks.

If the Nova Scotia government does allow the change, municipal staff would craft a policy on community benefit agreements and when they should be used.

For more stories about the experiences of Black Canadians — from anti-Black racism to success stories within the Black community — check out Being Black in Canada, a CBC project Black Canadians can be proud of. You can read more stories here.