Court process could stall hopes of converting vacant Halifax school into housing

Halifax Mayor Andy Fillmore says an abandoned school that recently caught fire could be used to address the housing crisis.

After crews responded to three fires at the former St. Patrick’s-Alexandra School in Halifax within the last week, there are growing calls to convert the lot into housing.

“It’s about time that building comes down,” says Virginia Hinch, the councillor for the area.

She feels that’s necessary due to safety reasons on the property.

“We’d rather see these unsightly buildings, unsafe buildings for the community, just come down,” says Joe Triff, vice president of the Halifax Professional Fire Fighters Association.

The union representing Halifax firefighters points to safety concerns as squatters or looters often find their way into vacant buildings like St. Patrick’s-Alexandra, posing safety issues to themselves and firefighters.

“There can be a lot of broken glass, parts of the structure itself can be compromised from removing materials, either for destructive purposes or even just to start fires to stay warm in these buildings,” says Triff.

“We have to address what’s going on right now, which is these fires, which may, probably escalate to one big fire at some point in time,” Hinch tells CTV News.

Both Hinch and the city’s mayor say it’s time for housing.

“I would love to buy it back and make it, probably for affordable housing or there’s so many things that that land can become for the community,” Hinch says.

“This is a very important site,” said Mayor Andy Fillmore. “It’s close to services. It’s on transit (routes). It’s in an existing neighborhood. It’s near everything that you need to have a really successful housing, a mixed-use housing development.”

The Nova Scotia Non-Profit Housing Association says given the homelessness crisis across the province, it would be great to turn vacant buildings into affordable housing wherever possible.

“I think every community could probably identify some vacant properties that have been sitting – and really becoming a liability the longer they’re sitting vacant – that they could see a purpose for,” says Trish McCourt, executive director for the organization.

But next steps at St. Patrick’s-Alexandra are on hold due to a court process disputing the buyback agreement terms.

The municipality sold the property to JONO Developments in 2020. Court proceedings were adjourned last August, with no future date set.

CTV News reached out to JONO Developments and the company’s lawyer for comment Tuesday, but did not hear back by deadline.

CTV News is also waiting for comment from the municipality about next steps.

The school was operational from 1921 to 2010.

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