The Halifax Regional Municipality is facing significant housing availability challenges and has entered into a $79.3 million agreement with Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC) to develop and implement a Housing Accelerator Fund (HAF) Action Plan by 2026.
Additional proposed planning changes
The First Reading of the proposed Urgent Changes to Planning Documents for Housing: Additional Sites amendment package (Case 2024-01198) is anticipated to take place at Regional Council on February 11, 2025. This package will address additional site-specific requests in the Regional Centre and Suburban Area as well as housekeeping changes to planning documents for the Suburban Area. For more information, click the button below.
Approved by Regional Council in 2023, the municipality’s HAF Action Plan will help:
- encourage more housing choices in neighbourhoods across the municipality;
- create faster approval processes; and
- turn unused spaces into homes.
The municipality’s HAF Action Plan aims to help create 2,600 net new housing units, part of the municipality’s total target of 15,467 new housing units over three years, between 2023 and 2026.
What is HAF?
The Housing Accelerator Fund (HAF) is a national, Government of Canada initiative administered by Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC), created to assist municipalities in removing barriers to housing construction and increasing the supply of diverse and affordable housing options.
As part of Canada’s broader National Housing Strategy, HAF provides financial support to streamline development processes, promote innovation in housing, enhance housing affordability and encourage planning for long-term housing and infrastructure needs.
In June 2023, following consideration from Council, the municipality submitted an initial HAF application to CMHC [PDF]. In September 2023, after additional collaboration with the federal government, the municipality submitted an updated report [PDF] that included additional zoning regulatory changes. In October 2023, the municipality entered into an agreement with CMHC based on the amended application.
HAF Action Plan updates
Work on the municipality’s HAF Action Plan, spanning 11 different initiatives, is underway and managed by the Housing Accelerator Fund team. All initiatives are on track (and several completed) with upcoming updates to be made available here.
Learn more
- View the full HAF Plan summary document [PDF]
- Download the June 6 and Sept. 23, 2023 staff reports [PDF]
- Explore recent proposed changes to planning documents
Questions?
Contact the municipality's Housing Accelerator Fund team by emailing haf@halifax.ca.
