Latest news with #HalifaxRegionalMunicipality
Global News
6 days ago
- General
- Global News
Halifax says it is closing one of the five remaining designated homeless encampments
Halifax Regional Municipality is closing one of its five remaining homeless encampment sites. In a statement this morning, the municipality says the green space on Geary Street in Dartmouth will no longer be designated for use by people sheltering in tents, and people will have until June 22 to relocate. Max Chauvin, Halifax's director of housing and homelessness, says the Geary Street site has consistently had the lowest use among the designated encampments. Get breaking National news For news impacting Canada and around the world, sign up for breaking news alerts delivered directly to you when they happen. Sign up for breaking National newsletter Sign Up By providing your email address, you have read and agree to Global News' Terms and Conditions and Privacy Policy As of Friday, Halifax staff observed four tents at the Geary Street site, and 47 tents and four trailers across the municipality's four other designated encampment locations, he says. Chauvin says in the coming days, the residents sleeping at the Geary Street site will be offered resources and support to move to a shelter, temporary housing or one of the remaining designated encampment sites. Story continues below advertisement Four designated homeless encampment sites will remain open; three in Halifax and one in Dartmouth. This report by The Canadian Press was first published May 28, 2025.
CTV News
6 days ago
- General
- CTV News
Halifax's Emera Oval to open Saturday for the summer season
People scooter and rollerblade around the Emera Oval in an undated file photo. The Halifax Regional Municipality says the Emera Oval will open Saturday for the summer season. Now that the winter ice surface is gone, people will be able to use the concrete surface for roller skating, biking, skateboarding, in-line skating and more. E-powered and segway-style equipment are not allowed. People can also rent equipment, such as bikes, scooters and skateboards, for free. Helmets are mandatory for all users, which are also available to rent at no charge. Access to public washrooms and first-aid stations is also available. The municipality says it will also host Rec Day programming at the Oval on June 7 from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m., which will include face painting and inflatables along with other organizations and demonstrations. For more Nova Scotia news, visit our dedicated provincial page
CBC
28-05-2025
- Business
- CBC
Halifax creating enforcement team for short-term rentals like Airbnbs
Halifax is creating a team to better enforce the rules for short-term rentals on platforms like Airbnb, and streamlining regulations to allow more rentals in rural areas of the municipality. The Halifax Regional Municipality's short-term rental bylaw has been in effect since September 2023. All rentals in Nova Scotia must be registered with the province, and as of last fall, owners have to show proof they are following their local regulations. Since September 2024, a staff report said Halifax has received about 1,137 requests for documentation to register short-term rentals with the province. The process "exposed several non-compliant [rentals] which were previously unknown," the report said. But during a council meeting Tuesday, Coun. Kathryn Morse was among multiple councillors who said they are still seeing issues with trash, or multiple cars on side streets causing problems with snow removal. "In some cases, they have quite an impact on their neighbourhoods," Morse said, describing a complaint about a five-bedroom house with 10 visitors at a time. The current bylaw states entire homes or bedrooms can only be rented in residential areas if the owner lives on the property as their primary residence. That owner-occupied rule doesn't apply if the property is in a commercial zone, where hotels are allowed. Sean Audas, program manager with land development and subdivision, said enforcement has been a challenge because there are only three bylaw compliance officers for the entire municipality. "Are we effectively enforcing that now? I would say no, because it goes in the queue with everything else," Audas said. But he said Halifax was recently awarded $300,000 for this year from a federal short-term rental enforcement fund through Housing, Infrastructure and Communities Canada that is described as an "effort to make more long-term housing units available in Canada." Listings have fallen from 2,400 to 1,200 Audas said the two-year grant will fund seven positions including a planner, two compliance officers and two assistant building officials. He said these staff will focus solely on short-term rental data analysis and enforcement. Back in September 2023 when the bylaw came in, the data analysis platform AirDNA showed 2,418 active Airbnb rentals in the municipality, with most of the listings for entire homes. There were 1,218 on the platform on Tuesday. Although Halifax is officially aware of 1,137 short-term rentals now, staff said they need time to figure out whether the bylaw has led to short-term rentals being switched to long-term housing stock. "It's still in the early stages for us to be able to ascertain any kind of correlation, causation or results," said planner Kate Clark. Looking at other cities, the report said Vancouver has evaluated its own program and has "experienced continued increase in the long-term rental housing stock since short-term rental regulations were enacted." Halifax staff said they are also making changes to address the patchwork approach for regulations in rural areas, and to help boost tourism. Most districts in the rural western parts of Halifax, like the St. Margarets Bay area, now allow one short-term rental per lot that doesn't have to be owner-occupied. The new rules would see this applied to rural districts elsewhere in the municipality, like the Eastern Shore, Lawrencetown, Musquodoboit Valley, Porters Lake and Fall River. Rural operators 'anxious' to launch listings "I have a lot of operators anxiously waiting to legitimize their short-term rental units," said Coun. David Hendsbee, who represents Lawrencetown-The Lakes-Chezzetcook-Eastern Shore. Bylaw changes for these rural areas will come in early June. Halifax will do more consultation with African Nova Scotian communities like North Preston, Upper Hammonds Plains and Lake Loon to find out what short-term rules those residents would like to see. Secondary suites or backyard units in residential areas are not allowed to be short-term rentals unless they are rented by the person living in them, because staff said the intent is for these spaces to remain as long-term housing. Coun. Laura White, who represents Halifax South Downtown, asked for staff to explore tweaking this rule so that secondary suites in urban areas around universities and colleges could be rented short term in the summer, if they have long-term tenants through the year. "I'm wondering if this would be an incentive to open up more units because people could rent to students for an affordable price during the school year, and then have some flexibility to do tourism rentals in the summer," White said. That report will return to council at a later date.
CTV News
27-05-2025
- Sport
- CTV News
Halifax councillor pitches singular membership for publicly owned fitness centres
The Halifax Regional Municipality is exploring the idea of creating one membership to cover all of its recreational facilities.
CTV News
25-05-2025
- Business
- CTV News
Halifax seeks public input on singular membership for recreational facilities
The Halifax Regional Municipality is exploring the idea of creating one membership to cover all of its recreational facilities – but it's seeking public input on the idea first. The idea has been years in the making, says Sam Austin, the councillor for Dartmouth Centre, which includes the Zatzman Sportsplex. 'It could be as simple as, 'Hey, I work in downtown Halifax and want to use Centennial Pool during the day, during my work day, but then I'm living out in Cole Harbour and on the days I'm working from home, or on the weekends, I want to use Cole Harbour Place,' he told CTV News on Sunday. A public survey is now live on the municipality's website and one of the questions asked is if people would be willing to pay additional membership fees to have access to multiple municipal recreation facilities. While affordable recreation has been a priority for the municipality, Austin says a cost increase isn't guaranteed. Sam Austin Sam Austin, the HRM councillor for Dartmouth Centre, says the idea to look at a 'One Membership' option for the city's rec facilities has been years in the making. (CTV Atlantic/Callum Smith) 'Maybe, maybe not,' he says. 'If you have one access membership, we can do things more easily, like target supports to folks who really need it.' On the flip side, he says an idea like this has the potential to make memberships more appealing and drive-up demand, 'which then puts more money into the municipal coffers and takes pressure off the existing folks.' Austin points to success in the private sector, like what GoodLife Fitness has done, for example, offering tiered memberships, including one that only allows access to a 'home club,' while others offer access to all facilities. But another alternative that could arise from discussions could be to simply offer discounts to people who purchase a second membership at a different venue. 'My hope is that we can look at this and find a way to provide better access to all the residents that these facilities are actually for; that's really what it's all about,' he says. 'You could do nothing; you could have discounted access; you can have just one HRM membership to rule them all, so to speak.' Or it could be anything in between. The survey closes at the end of June. There will then be a 'data analysis' period from July to September, before a report is brought back to council no later than next February. For more Nova Scotia news, visit our dedicated provincial page.
