Halifax housing crisis tracker

Is Halifax's housing pipeline keeping pace?

Halifax needs more homes. This dashboard shows where public HRM records indicate new housing activity is moving, and where the pipeline still looks thin.

It separates observed building permit activity from earlier planning applications moving through HRM review.

12 months through July 2026

Over the 12 months through July 2026, HRM records show 2,536 permits and 5,497 recorded units. That was 658 fewer recorded units than in the preceding 12 months. District 5 (Dartmouth Centre) had the highest recorded-unit rate using the dashboard's 2021 population estimates.

Source: HRM Building Permits ArcGIS FeatureServer. Context: HRM Housing Strategy. Data generated Aug 3, 2026, 8:43 a.m. from 5,100 staged records.

Observed activity

Building permits

Permit months use HRM's issuance date, and units use the source net-new unit field when available. Cancelled or expired statuses, positive-unit renovations, and duplicate permit numbers are not separately adjusted in this view.

Project typeAll districts · All project types

12-month units

5,497

−658 (−10.7%) vs previous 12 months

125 units per 10,000 residents (2021 estimate)

12-month permits

2,536

−28 (−1.1%) vs previous 12 months

57.7 permits per 10,000 residents (2021 estimate)

Units in July 2026

201

Permits in July 2026

232

Monthly Permit Trend

Top Permit Project Types

New Building

Permits: 1,423
Units: 4,816

Renovation

Permits: 808
Units: 375

Addition

Permits: 305
Units: 306

Permit Activity By District

Click a district to focus the dashboard

Population	Permits	Units	Units / 10k¹
20,507	238	150	73.1
24,338	342	615	252.7
26,491	81	188	71.0
26,764	92	77	28.8
30,853	111	1,125	364.6
27,177	178	111	40.8
26,115	125	253	96.9
25,232	94	325	128.8
26,991	122	300	111.1
29,261	58	270	92.3
28,948	194	551	190.3
29,716	120	74	24.9
24,512	235	131	53.4
29,507	258	475	161.0
28,174	124	259	91.9
35,233	164	593	168.3

¹ Based on estimated 2021 Census population assigned to current district boundaries.

Boundaries: HRM Municipal Polling Districts. Population is assigned using census-area representative points; rates are comparative dashboard indicators, not official district population counts. Permit activity is assigned from mapped permit coordinates.

Permit Concentration

2,536 mapped permits

New BuildingRenovationAddition

Development pipeline

Planning applications

Planning applications show development proposals moving through HRM's planning process. An application does not necessarily result in approval, a building permit, or construction.

Planning applications

598

Active applications

170

Applications By Status

Status	Applications	Active
Approved	331	0
Cancelled	92	0
In Review	69	69
Applicant Revisions	47	47
Recordation	25	25
Findings	18	18
Hearing/Meeting	11	11
Denied	5	0

Applications By Type

Type	Applications	Active
Development Agreement Only	226	84
All	225	43
Rezoning	27	5
Land Use By-law Amendment	22	6
Heritage Development Agreement	20	14
Registration	18	9
All Other Areas	17	4
Substantial Alterations	15	3

Recent Planning Applications

Submitted	Case	Type	Status	Community
Jul 29, 2026	PLANAPP-2026-02146	Development Agreement Only	In Review	DARTMOUTH
Jul 24, 2026	SPA-2026-02165	All Other Areas	In Review	WESTPHAL
Jul 23, 2026	VAR-2026-02158	All	Cancelled	TIMBERLEA
Jul 22, 2026	VAR-2026-02148	All	In Review	WAVERLEY
Jul 22, 2026	PLANAPP-2026-02125	Development Agreement Only	In Review	MUSQUODOBOIT HARBOUR
Jul 20, 2026	VAR-2026-02110	All	In Review	HATCHET LAKE
Jul 16, 2026	VAR-2026-01742	All	In Review	HALIFAX
Jul 15, 2026	PLANAPP-2026-01984	Development Agreement Only	In Review	HALIFAX

Source: HRM PPL&C Planning Applications, table 0. Retrieved Aug 3, 2026, 8:43 a.m.. Source last updated Aug 3, 2026, 6:25 a.m.. The inspected ArcGIS source is a table. Records do not expose feature geometry, so planning application latitude and longitude are null.