Halifax agrees to most federal tweaks for housing money — but not height

Halifax will follow most of Ottawa's requests in its bid for federal housing money, but disagrees that changing height rules is the best local approach.

Last week, federal Housing Minister Sean Fraser asked Halifax to make four changes before the federal government could approve its application for the housing accelerator fund, which allocates $4 billion in funding until 2026-27 to encourage more home building in cities.

The municipality is asking for roughly $79 million to generate thousands of new units by fast-tracking development approvals, reducing fees, and expanding Halifax's affordable housing grant program.

Fraser's requests include allowing four units per lot within the urban service boundary, an affordable housing strategy, increasing student rentals, and legalizing four-storey dwellings for all residential areas covered by the municipality's Centre Plan.

Coun. Waye Mason said both levels of government agree that more "missing middle" housing is needed, including smaller multi-unit apartments and townhouses, which fill the gap between single-unit homes and high rises.

"The goal of the federal government, that we share, is … what is the fastest and cheapest way to do that?" Mason said during Tuesday's regional council meeting.

Staff said these requests were in line with current and future policies, and could be moved ahead. For the four storeys request, staff suggested going from the current 11-metre height allowed in residential areas to 12 metres.

But Mason said allowing four storeys in those residential areas — without any need for zoning or bylaw changes — wouldn't achieve that medium density. Instead, he said the best way to build more affordable units is likely by increasing the actual lot coverage of one or two-storey buildings to make them larger.

"What you're gonna see is four-storey McMansions on [Lake] Banook and on the Northwest Arm if we allow four storeys," Mason said.

Council passed Mason's motion to remove the mention of any specific height in the funding application, and instead fast-track changes that would more generally enable "missing middle housing," with particular focus on smaller and faster construction like wood frame.

However, Mason said this still means municipal staff have room to look at allowing four storeys in some residential zones near major streets.

'A bit of a negotiation,' says mayor

When Coun. Trish Purdy asked whether going back to the federal government with that change could hurt Halifax's application, Mayor Mike Savage said it makes sense to tailor the approach to better fit Halifax.

"We think we can build more housing doing this than the other way, so the short answer is, it's a bit of a negotiation," Savage said.

Savage will now write to Fraser with their suggested change, and agree to the minister's other three requests.