Media Releases

Making Housing Happen in Amherst

The Situation

Amherst, Nova Scotia is a large, small town of just under 10,000 people, with about 170,000 more living within a 30-minute drive. We are a safe, walkable community, geographically located in the centre of the Maritimes, very close to the New Brunswick border, with easy access to major urban centres and amenities. We are the gateway to Nova Scotia, on the picturesque Tantramar Marshes. And in Amherst, we are facing a housing crisis.

This, of course, is the case from coast-to-coast in Canada; Amherst is not alone as it struggles to meet the present and future residential requirements of our citizens. At Town Hall, we have been hearing practically every day about people who cannot find a suitable place to live. We have also been hearing from employers who cannot hire much needed employees because of the lack of housing in the area.

Housing: From a Federal Policy to a Provincial Responsibility

As it stands, housing is a provincial responsibility, with various sources of funding for housing-related projects available from provincial and federal sources. It may be a provincial responsibility, but Amherst recognizes that we must be a large part of the solution. We’re taking an innovative approach, changing how we operate, working with some of the biggest players to demonstrate we can do what it takes to make housing happen in Amherst. We’re working for our community, creating an environment that will better serve the needs of people who have no place to call home, newcomers to Amherst and Canada, incoming healthcare workers, our employers, retirees and downsizers, and people entering the housing market for the first time.

Our Actions

In Amherst, our Council and staff have generally been very pro-development since the early 2000s. More recently, our approach to development and specifically on housing has become more deliberate, sophisticated; for several years, housing has been one of Council’s main strategic priorities. In fact, we recognize housing as our number one economic development tool, key to allowing the expansion of business and industry in our community. If workers can find suitable accommodation, then our local businesses and our economy can grow – it’s a direct relationship.

We’ve worked to address immediate needs and have set the stage for action, which has included ensuring the most vulnerable have access to basic resources, and re-vamping existing services and processes at Town Hall.

Addressing Homelessness

Homelessness is a complex issue, and Amherst has seen a rise in residents without a home. About a year ago, local community partners, with support from the Town of Amherst, came together and received $360,000 in provincial funding to open our first emergency shelter. This was intended to provide people with a safe, warm place to sleep during the winter months. The Cumberland Homelessness and Housing Support Association – AKA Cornerstone, a non-profit, volunteer organization – provided support services and staffing at the shelter, which operated with 20 beds for all genders from early December, 2022 to April 30, 2023, helping to ensure that no lives were lost from exposure.

We believe in Cornerstone’s mission, so the Town funded the salary for Cornerstone’s Executive Director. The organization is currently building a permanent transitional shelter that will offer wrap-around services and affordable rental units on Prince Arthur Street in Amherst, on property donated by the Town of Amherst.

While the permanent facility is under construction, we have The Hub, operated by Cornerstone, located downtown – providing meals, clothing, and other supports, from 8 am to 8 pm. And a few blocks away, Cornerstone operates an overnight shelter at Holy Family Catholic Church from 8 pm to 8 am. This is all part of the evolution of a network to support our homeless population. Partnering with non-profits in our community is something that we find works very well. In fact, we are exploring creating a formal partnership with the YMCA as our affordable housing partner through the Federal Affordable Housing Accelerator Fund. Moving forward, we are prepared to support this partnership by providing development advice and potentially Town-owned land to construct brand-new units as appropriate. If our application to the Housing Accelerator Fund is approved, we will be able to provide direct financial support to the YMCA to aid in their efforts to provide more affordable housing in Amherst.

Navigating Housing for Healthcare Workers

Another area identified for immediate action was increased assistance for the recruitment of healthcare workers to Amherst and Cumberland County. Our area has a need for more doctors, nurses, and support staff, right now; and, that need will continue rising as our population increases. The Town and the Municipality of Cumberland were both successful in obtaining the funding required to support our first-ever Community Navigator for healthcare workers. There have been various committees in place here for over six years – the Physician Recruitment Committee, the Healthcare Recruitment and Retention Committee, and the Healthcare Appreciation Committee – but, this new paid position works to support the maintenance and growth of our healthcare community in a number of ways, such as organizing site visits for potential recruits, assisting with finding childcare, making connections in the community, and the all-important role of tracking down housing options.

These are not typically responsibilities of a municipal employee. However, the gap was identified and we are providing an effective solution for travel nurses who may only need a place to stay for a few weeks or months at a time, resident doctors who are looking for shared accommodation, or physicians moving to the area who may need large homes to accommodate multi-generational families.

Our Community Navigator is helping to ensure we increase the number of healthcare staff to serve our population. Some of these people move on, but others will stay in Amherst and area, and treat patients for years to come. This is an essential part of sustainable population growth.

Updating our Foundational Documents

The development process has generally been straightforward and efficient in Amherst. We take pride that a development agreement can be processed within 4-6 months. Building permits generally take days to obtain, and sometimes can be issued in just hours.

However, in preparing for a period of significant development in Amherst, we recognized the importance of updating our documents that guide all development in town: the Town of Amherst Municipal Planning Strategy and the Land Use Bylaw. In 2021 we launched an initiative named ‘Plan Amherst’ as a multi-phased approach to updating the MPS and LUB. The primary objective of this project is to create a new set of planning documents that will establish a blueprint for growth and development in Amherst while helping to proactively address current and future challenges our town will face. The existing documents were adopted in 2005 and many factors have changed since then, including economic and demographic shifts, and our central theme of an increased requirement for all types of housing. Several rounds of consultation, research, and reporting have taken place, and the new draft documents are now under review by our Planning and Advisory Committee, to be presented soon to Council and adopted by this spring.

Recognizing the importance of re-organizing our approach to development, in order to ramp up to and sustain such a level of construction, we have begun pre-zoning appropriate land for high density housing, thereby avoiding the sometimes-lengthy development agreement processes. We are also considering more as-of-right development in all residential areas, including increasing the number of dwellings permitted on each property from four to six. Further, increased use of ‘site plans’ for medium density housing will remove the need for development agreements for this type of housing, reducing the processing time from months to weeks.

A complementary document – the Housing Infrastructure Investment Policy – was recently approved by Council, and we also revamped our Local Improvement Bylaw. These changes allow the Town to front the cost of new street construction and installation of underground infrastructure (i.e., water and sewer systems). Our unique approach unburdens developers from those up-front costs and allows them to focus on building housing units. We allow developers to pay the Town back over time for this infrastructure investment. Some of the financial resources used to offer this service were received through the Sustainable Services Growth Fund offered up by the Province of Nova Scotia.

These changes have come about as we’ve begun working more closely with developers, listening to what they need to make their job of building housing options easier. There has been a relentless effort by staff to talk to and meet with developers, practically daily – both in and out of town. Staff members are promoting development opportunities to these home-builders, involving all types of housing projects, from apartments to townhouses, entry-level single detached, and executive homes.

Our Projected Requirements

With the provincial government’s aim to double our province’s population to 2 million by 2060, we believe Amherst should have our fair share of this growth. In order to keep pace, we estimate that we would need an additional 270 residents per year until 2060. Such an influx of new residents would require the construction of approximately 100 dwelling units every year for the next 37 years.

Right now, we are particularly focused on apartment developments in Amherst.

New Housing Projects Underway

We believed that if we changed how we approach and manage housing development at Town Hall, then we would see more residential units being built in Amherst. With 2023 coming to a close, our numbers are looking very positive.

On average, we tend to see about 35 new dwellings constructed every year. So far this year the Town has approved more than 70 new dwelling units to be built in Town, which is essentially double the average number. This includes everything from mini homes to townhouses, single family detached dwellings, and small- and large-scale apartment projects. Over the last number of years, we have seen a trend favouring townhouses, instead of single family detached homes. This is positive, because of the increased density this type of housing creates – higher density developments make sense.

Earlier this year, Council approved a three-building, 156-unit apartment development south of E.B. Chandler Junior High School, which is currently in the permitting process. Another smaller scale apartment project was recently approved for the downtown, consisting of two, 24-unit buildings – half of these new downtown units will be offered for rent as affordable housing. A major development planned for South Albion Street was just approved by Council, which includes two apartment buildings offering a combined 176 rental units, alongside 10 townhouses.

In November, Council approved an agreement for a subdivision of 50+ units on and adjacent to Russell Street. This agreement will see the Town finance the cost of the street and associated infrastructure, with the developer paying back the Town’s investment over a number of years. Fronting the costs of the required infrastructure allows the financing for the project to work, in this era of higher interest rates and high inflation. Other projects are on the horizon, including a six-storey apartment building proposed for downtown and a large-scale residential development that will provide entry-level housing for dozens of families that may not be able to achieve home ownership otherwise.

Looking Forward

The hard work of Council and staff is starting to pay off, with a number of housing projects in various stages of development. Looking at apartment buildings alone, the slate of projects currently on the table will produce more than 400 units. When we include lower density projects the total increases to 600 new homes – and we need every one of them.

In Amherst, we’re taking action – making housing happen.

This momentum feels great, and we’re going to sustain it. We’re working with non-profit groups and developers based in our area and from across the province, but our goal is very much a local one: building new homes to help our community evolve and grow – now, and into the future.

Anyone with an interest in advancing the construction of housing units in Amherst – developers, land-owners, and construction-related business owners – is welcomed to contact Amherst Town Hall at 902-667-3352.