‘I just don’t like it’: Living the high life in Halifax and why not everyone is a fan
Take a drive through Halifax or Dartmouth and it’s immediately evident.
New high-rise projects are on the rise in the municipality, but it leaves many asking, ‘Who can afford to call them home?’
Local researchers say Nova Scotians living on tight budgets, especially families, are continuing to get pushed out of the urban rental market.
It’s left some people, including a Haligonian, to consider moving out of the city.
“I used to look out at these beautiful views, the harbour and the hills in the distance,” said the woman who goes by Jaki, adding that the noise from the constant construction means “there’s never a moment of silence.”
“It’s not affordable for people, and I just don’t like it.”
Halifax is one of the fastest-growing cities in Canada and the demand for housing is changing the landscape.
According to the Halifax Index 2024, from the city’s public-private economic development organization Halifax Partnership, population growth hit a record high in 2023.
“This was good news for addressing long-term demographic challenges. However, it also meant continued and serious pressures on housing, transportation, and health care,” wrote Ian Munro, chief economist with Halifax Partnership.
“Driven in large part by rising prices for housing, inflation remained stubbornly elevated compared to the past 30 years.”
The statistics found that the record-high population growth was driven by international migration.
Of note, more people moved out of Halifax to other parts of Nova Scotia than went the other way — for the second year in a row.
The index also found Halifax’s average housing price reached $550,605 in 2023, which is over double the level a decade ago.
“Over the longer-term, rent has increased by +$602 since 2014 when a typical monthly rate was $936,” the index notes.
“Price pressures are not isolated to Halifax’s urban centres; every region of Halifax has seen double-digit growth in average rent.”
‘Expensive new apartment units’Elijah Walsh, who currently lives in downtown Halifax and is a university student, wonders what the cost of rent will be for these new high-rise developments.
“It’s going to address things in the next five or 10 years, but in the immediate term — there’s really nothing to be done,” said Walsh.
An expert in city planning, Jill Grant, has the same questions. The Dalhousie University School of Planning professor says the speed of development that’s taking place is simply unsustainable.
“There’s a bit more of a glut happening. There’s a lot of stuff coming on the market and not enough high-income earners to necessarily fill up all those expensive new apartment units,” she said.
She adds that people who live downtown are likely young and single, yet many of the new projects that are cropping are advertised explicitly as “luxury.”
“Which means they have nice kitchens and appliances and so on, but they tend to be fairly small spaces,” she said, adding that amenities such as gyms are also built into rent prices and will increase costs.
According to a recent report by online marketplace, rentals.ca, the average rent in Halifax is more than $2,200. That’s up five per cent from last year.
Yet the provincial government says the market is stabilizing and that the vacancy rate has increased one per cent since last year — now sitting at two per cent.
But housing advocates warn the situation remains dire.
“It falls to one per cent vacancy rate if you actually are exploring any type of affordable housing unit. So it’s extremely tight and very difficult,” said Jeff Karabanow, a Dalhousie University social work professor.
The researchers say additional government support could help, including greater investment in public housing. There could also be a return to war-time housing programs, including building pre-fab homes and encouraging developers to build affordable rentals.
“We need that kind of program if we’re going to have enough housing to keep people off the streets. So they’re not forced to live in tents,” said Grant.
In the second part of our series looking at development in the Halifax region, we’ll speak to a developer behind some of the new high-rise buildings on the city’s horizon.
globalnews
