Canada/New minimaison villages confirmed in Dartmouth and Halifax
The Nova Scotia government has confirmed that an area of the Burnside Industrial Park in Dartmouth has been chosen for a village of mini-homes for people who are homeless.
The site is on Bancroft Lane, a small street off Windmill Road and near Marketplace Drive.
Last fall, the Nova Scotia government purchased 200 Minimaisons for $7.5 million from U.S. supplier Pallet, a non-profit public benefit corporation based in Washington State.
These small, 6.5-square-meter (70-square-foot) fiberglass residences are furnished with a bed and a desk. They are equipped with heating and air conditioning.
The 85 shelters yet to be installed will be shared between this area in the Dartmouth Industrial Park and an area in the Clayton Park neighborhood on the Halifax side.
The site on Bancroft Lane in Dartmouth had already been designated by the Halifax Regional Municipality as a camp for homeless people.
On Wednesday, Nova Scotia's Minister of Community Services, Brendan Maguire, explained that the province wanted something better, and had approached the City about erecting the mini-homes there. The Minister says this form of transitional housing is preferable to tents.
Dartmouth District Councillor Tony Mancini explained that the City of Halifax had begun preparing the site for an encampment. The site is now being taken over by the province to set up the minimaisons.
Ideally, my community and I would prefer to have neither," said the councillor. But if there is to be one, a Pallet shelter village will have 24-hour staff, security, electricity, a kitchen, showers and toilets.
He expects the first residents to move in by November. Prior to this, a public meeting will be held with residents.
Of the 200 mini-homes acquired by the province, 115 are already in place. In the Halifax Regional Municipality, there are 41 on Atlantic Street in Dartmouth, and 19 in the suburb of Lower Sackville.
In Cape Breton, 35 shelters have been erected in the Whitney Pier area of Sydney. Finally, there are 20 shelters in Kentville, in the Annapolis Valley.
Clayton Park MLA surprised and displeased
According to Rafah DiCostanzo, the Liberal MLA for this Halifax district, the development work on the Pallet Minimaison Village in Clayton Park has taken citizens by surprise.
She maintains that the provincial government was not transparent, and that a better site could have been chosen. The mini-homes will be built on Thomas Raddall Drive, near the Canada Games Centre, the BMO Soccer Centre, a high school and a library.
Rafah DiCostanzo questioned Minister Brendan Maguire at the Legislative Assembly on Wednesday. I had no idea and I'm the MLA for the riding. I asked two [municipal] councillors and they didn't know either," said the MLA for Clayton Park West.
Minister Maguire replied that this was not true. Since the choice of sites ultimately belongs to the City of Halifax, the councillors were not only informed, but had voted in favour of this location," he maintained.
I understand the concerns. It's not a camp, it's a place where people are committed to success," he replied.
These are homes, and we've had an extremely high success rate with them," added Brendan Maguire.
The Minister says that the mini-homes already installed in the municipality have not led to an increase in police interventions, and that no school has made a complaint about them since they were installed.
Source: ici.radio-canada.ca/
