Vicki Elliott-Lopez to chair Halifax housing task force

Vicki Elliott-Lopez has been named chairwoman of the task force on housing in Halifax Regional Municipality.

“The executive panel (task force) continues to do important work to help remove barriers and accelerate housing development in Halifax Regional Municipality,” provincial Housing Minister John Lohr said in making the announcement in a news release.

Elliott-Lopez has been a member of the task force executive panel since January and led the secretariat supporting the panel since it was created in 2021.

Elliott-Lopez take over from Fred Crooks, chief regulatory officer with the Office of Regulatory Affairs and Service Effectiveness, who had chaired the panel since January and who had been involved since its inception.

Crooks played a key role in the approval of special planning areas which will create more than 22,000 new housing units in HRM, the Municipal Affairs and Housing Department said in its release.

“I thank Fred for his contribution to this work and leadership on the panel over the past two years,” Lohr said.

“Ms. Elliott-Lopez is an experienced member and well-positioned to lead the panel’s efforts to speed up the supply of all types of housing in the municipality.”

Along with the appointment of Elliott-Lopez as the new chairwoman, Kristen O’Toole, vice-president of strategy, people and culture with Build Nova Scotia, will join the panel as a provincial representative.

Crooks will turn his full time and attention to regulatory reform, particularly his office’s critical work to reduce unnecessary administrative burden on health-care professionals.

The task force was created in November 2021 to focus on faster planning and development approvals for large residential projects in HRM.

The other current panel members are Peter Duncan, director of infrastructure planning with HRM, Erin MacIntyre, director of development services at HRM, and Jarrod Baboushkin, executive director of housing acceleration and performance with the Municipal Affairs and Housing Department.

The chairperson of the task force is appointed by the minister and both HRM and the province appoint two members each.

By legislation, the task force will only remain in place for three years.