Stephenson, G. A redevelopment study of Halifax, Nova Scotia Halifax: Corporation of the City of Halifax, 1957.
See page 49 for map of “Unwholesome sanitary conditions)
n.b. This study was commissioned by the City Council, acting with the Provincial Government and the Central Mortgage and Housing Corporation, is it in any way connected to the 1956 Infrastructure Study that I address in Chapter 4? (most likely!)
“We are fond of Halifax with its history, the Citadel surrounded by the broad sweep of the ocean. Two centuries of living, however, have worn our City fabric thin, and many of our streets are unsuitable for modern needs.” – L. A. Kitz, Mayor (Foreword to above).
Purpose:
The purpose of the study was “to investigate and study housing conditions in the City of Halifax for the purpose of ascertaining: (a) the areas which require development and the order in which such areas should be redeveloped: (b) the best methods for re-housing families living in the areas planned for redevelopment; and: (c) the recommended uses for the land when redeveloped; and to prepare a report upon the results of such investigation and studyi
The widening of the National Housing Act allows the City to take a more comprehensive view, not only because the Council may take steps to redevelop areas for any purpose, but also through the increased financial assistance offered. The Minister of Public Works is now authorised to enter into an agreement with the City, when it wishes to redevelop a blighted or sub-standard area[.]ii
Because of its age and economic history there are substantial parts of Halifax which should be transformed, and in which healthy new growth should be promoted for the immediate benefit of the people of the City and the Province and to the ultimate benefit of Canada. The Report now submitted is a redevelopment study. It draws conclusions from the evidence already available, and from the survey which was commenced in the summer of 1956 and forms part of it.iii
There are national policies which have had, and will continue to have, tremendous effect in Halifax. They relate to National Defence, and the further development of the Harbour and the railway system.iv
Part III Low Rental Housing
In February 1949, the Prime Minister, Mr. St. Laurent, gave an address after inspecting the Regent Park scheme in Toronto: He said:
It is the deliberate policy of the government to encourage house building by private and local enterprise so that as much of our housing needs as possible can be provided without making the national government the landlord of too many voters. That does not mean that we do not mean that we do not recognize the need for housing units at low rent. With today’s costs it must be obvious that low-rental housing cannot be provided without some kind of financial assistance. Our legislation provides for slum clearance grants, and also for loans to limited dividend companies for construction of low rental housing. It may be that experience will show that other forms of federal assistance will be desirable.
By the end of 1949, the Dominion Government had enacted Section 35 of the National Housing Act, whereby a system of subsidies became the basis for federal-provincial partnerships in housing and redevelopment.v The provisions were further enlarged in 1956. Very substantial federal assistance is now available not only for housing, but also for general improvement through redevelopment if it accords with an approved plan. They should be considered as parts of a general development plan with a series of objectives.
This then, is the general picture. There are considerable areas in the City of Halifax which should be redeveloped in a comprehensive way during the coming years.vi
The Northern End of the City and Africville
There is a little frequented part of the City, overlooking Bedford Basin, which presents an unusual problem for any community to face. In what may be described as an encampment, or a shack town, there live about seventy negro families. They are descendants of early settlers, and it is probable that Africville originated with a few shacks well over a century ago. Title to some of land will be difficult to ascertain. Some of the hutted homes are on railway land, some on City land, some on private land. There will be families with squatters rights, and others with clear title to land which is now appreciating considerably in value.
The citizens of Africville live a life apart. On a sunny summer day, the small children roan at will in a spacious area and swim what amounts to their private lagoon. In winter, life is far from idyllic. In terms of the physical condition if the buildings and sanitation, the story is deplorable. Shallow wells and cesspools in close proximity are scattered about the slopes between the shacks.
There are no accurate records of conditions in Africville. There are only two things to be said. The families will have to be rehoused in the near future. The land which they now occupy will be required for the further development of the City. A solution which is satisfactory, socially as well as economically, will be difficult to achieve.vii Africville stands as an indictment of society and not of its inhabitants. They are old Canadians who have never had the opportunities enjoyed by their more fortunate fellows.
Slum Clearance and Redevelopment
There is some bad housing in Halifax. This cannot be denied. The investigation into living conditions and the physical fitness of housing has disclosed little that was not previously recorded. […] Previous Reports of this century have drawn attention have drawn attention to conditions in the old, overcrowded, residential districts. […] There has never been a concerted attack on bad housing conditions in the order parts of the City. In the long run such an attack must be complemented by the building of low cost and low rental dwellings in the suburbs. Within the City it must take place through combined offensive and defensive actions.viii
The desire to upgrade housing throughout Halifax was informed by post-war ideologies concerning the improvement of living structures and housing throughout North America.
The report at hand quotes as follows:
In 1946, M. Allen Pond, writing in the United States Public Health Reports had this to say of the relationships between housing and health. Creditable studies conducted in recent years have shown that people who live in good housing are, in the main, healthier than those who live in sub-stand dwellings. For certain diseases, notably the enteric infections and tuberculosis, morbidity and mortality for those who live in sound sanitary structures are significantly lower than for families and individuals living in sub-standard housing. Sharp differences in respiratory disease rates have been demonstrated to the degree of room crowding.ix
Under Part IV: Section 6. Police Problems
An examination if the table shows that incidents described as disturbances, assaults and causing bodily harm are extraordinarily high in the Study Area. […] Many must be caused by the constant inflammation of relations between neighbours struggling to live in dirty houses, in which they are always sharing poor sanitary equipment. Overcrowding and shockingly bad sanitary conditions produce strife.
The abatement of overcrowding, the enforcement of tolerable standards of sanitation, and the clearance of the worst housing should reduce the work and costs of the police force.x
Part V: Section 9. Overcrowded Families
Of all the factors contributing to the making of slums, overcrowding is generally the most decisive. […] Overcrowding on a city is due primarily to an overall shortage of housing accommodations. […] Because of its history and function, Halifax has a high percentage of families living in rented accommodation. In the Study Area there are a number of blocks in which there are no owner-occupied dwellings. For long-standing social reasons, the highest owner-occupancy rate is in that part in which there is a concentration of Negro families (e.g. Africville?).xi
Part V: Section 10. Unwholesome Sanitary Conditions
The map and table in this Section (p49) result from a direct comparison of the actual provision of basic sanitary equipment in dwellings with the standards demanded by Ordinance 50. […]
The desirable minimum standards, which no reasonable person would question, are that there should be one W. C., one lavatory basin and one sink, and one bath tub or shower for each household. In other words standards should be more than three times as high as those required by the Ordinance. In the near future it would be impossible to demand and achieve such standards in the older parts of the City. […] In other dwellings plumbing work will have to be done to make them conform.
It might well be in the economic interest of the City, owners and landlords to write off, or condemn the worst dwellings. But such action would pose human problems of some magnitude. Many families would be faced with the impossible task of finding alternative accommodation.
In order to solve this dilemma the first and most important step to be taken is to provide economical housing on available sites within the City. In this way overcrowding might be relieved and the provision of sanitary equipment in general terms, would approach in not come within, the minimum standards required by Ordinance 50. There would remain a considerable number of dwellings in which plumbing work must be undertaken. Even in a twenty-year programme of clearance and improvement many are likely to remain standing and in use. […] In each building the number of persons was related to the number of each kind of sanitary fitting. One point was scored against each building which failed to reach the standard […].xii
VI : Section 13. Redevelopment in the Changing City
The Study has confirmed the finding of previous committees and reports concerned with housing in Halifax. For the past sixty years that have shed light on the problems and made recommendations. In that period the condition of dwellings in the Study Area must have worsened in general terms, and there has been no concerted scheme for clearance and rehousing.
The main planning has been through a zoning by-law. A glance at the zoning map is sufficient to show that the by-law must have had a bad effect on housing on the “old northern suburb: and the Spring Garden Road area.xiii
[…]
Scotia Square Development ca. 1967 starts here!
There are three proposals for the City Centre. The first involves sweeping away the worst housing in the City, which is in the vicinity of Jacob (under Scotia Square) and Market Street. This would provide excellently placed commercial sites, and a much needed road improvement by connecting Cogswell Street to Water Street on a new alignment. […] At the lower end, the proposal involves the clearing of decrepit waterfront property, in order to complete the fine governmental and financial centre by a fitting and multi-purpose terminal development overlooking the Harbour.xiv
Part VI: Section 14. REDEVELOPMENT AND NEW DEVELOPMENT
No attempt has been made to draw up a financial statement, nor has a period of time for carrying out the schemes been suggested. There are many unforeseeable factors which could affect the cost and scheduling of any programme. For example, it is too early to predict what effects the application of Ordinance 50 might have on building values. It could bring about reductions in some areas and increases in others. There may also be changes un regional housing policies to stimulate low-cost and low rental house-building on new land within the region and this would tend to reduce pressures in the Study Area. Finally, time will bring changes. The prediction on the Report is that there will be steady growth in the metropolitan region, with the population rising from 160,000 to 300,000 in some twenty-five years. There will be industrial development in the region, but most of it should be outside the civic boundary. Various major policy decisions will have to be made by the City Council as growth takes place. In the long term it may be far wiser to encourage in every way the growth of the City Centre and harbour ancillaries rather than attempt to introduce industry into what are now residential areas. That us one reason why the most important short-term proposals relate to the expansion of the area, and other proposals are concerned with the growth near the Naval Dockyard and Bedford Basin,xv
It might be said that the various schemes, if adopted as part of a comprehensive programme, could be carried through in a twenty-year period. But the programme could be speeded up if the City were to concentrate on redevelopment, and commercial interested were anxious to be established in or near the City Centres and harbour facilities. The limiting factor might prove to be to the lack of land, within the City’s jurisdiction which is essential to the provision of alternative and new housing accommodations. Schemes 1, 3 and 5 are very necessary elements in the redevelopment process.xvi – Africville redevelopment is part of scheme 3.
SPECIFIC RECOMMENDATIONS
2. […] Ordinance No. 50, and subsequently ordinances demanding higher minimum standards, should be vigorously applied. The Building and Health Inspectorates should be strengthened.
6. The City land adjacent to the City Prison and the Isolation Hospital should be used for housing and educational purposes related to the redevelopment (Scheme 3). About 26 acres could be made available for housing and the balance, 6 acres, for a primary school. It is suggested that the school, the housing in the limited dividend provisions of the N. H. A. should be on the western side of the site. Low rental housing under a Federal-Provincial-City partnership agreement should be built on the lower slopes to the north and on the field between the two institutions. The land should be developed at a relatively high density in order to accommodate over 2,000 persons. When the Africville area is cleared for industrial and harbour development, families living there should be offered housing on the lower slopes of Scheme 3.
8. […] It is strongly urged that the planning office should be strengthened, and that an official be appointed within the civic administration to devote the whole of his time to redevelopment matters. He should be able in negotiation, and have a sound knowledge of planning, real estate, law and finance. It may also be necessary to strengthen the Housing Authority.xvii
Stephenson Report ends here, notes complete
3. Commentary on the Stephenson Report
Africville Relocation Report
From D. H. Clairmont and D. W. Magill (Halifax: Institute of Public Affairs, Dalhousie University, 1971)
Appendix A
Africville
City of Halifax
July 23, 1962
It might be considered desirable to develop a detailed history of the settlement in the Africville Area. However, Professor Gordon Stephenson in his redevelopment study of the City of Halifax seems to have stated the problem of the area in a simple and precise manner. Professor Stephenson’s comments are quoted below […]
