Select Page

‘Where do we grow next?’: East Hants sees population jump, building permits triple

“The demand for housing is there,” he said. “Every time an apartment building is built here, it doesn’t seem to matter what the rents are, it gets filled immediately as soon as it opens.”

A central Nova Scotia municipality is preparing for its population to surge by as much as 70 per cent in the coming decades, part of a development boom in communities on the outskirts of Halifax.

Almost 1,000 people moved to the Municipality of East Hants last year, bringing the population to over 25,800, according to Statistics Canada. The area’s growth was only surpassed by the Halifax Regional Municipality and Cape Breton Regional Municipality.

“It’s almost like five years ago somebody threw a light switch,” John Woodford, the director of planning and development for East Hants, said in a recent interview.

He said the next 20 years could see enough housing built for 18,000 more people to move to the area, with construction projects already coming to fruition.

Demand for housing growing

Since 2021, the municipality has issued an average of 328 new building permits annually. That’s more than triple the amount a decade ago, said Woodford. …[Continue Reading]