Ocean Breeze Residents Association (OBRA) emerged from a series of community meetings and conversations amongst residents of Ocean Breeze Village, a 397-unit neighbourhood of affordable housing in Dartmouth, NS. In 2022, the property was purchased by Basin Heights Community Partnerships LP, – a consortium of local developers committed to evicting the 1,200 residents, demolishing the existing homes, and replacing them with high-end condos.
The consortium owners (Cresco, Fares & Co. Development and T & H Group Developments) convened an initial meeting with residents. At that time, they offered assurances to a roomful of anxious tenants that the demolition and redevelopment process would be a long-term, multi-phased approach in which new buildings would be constructed on vacant land before existing homes would be demolished.
Furthermore, Ocean Breeze residents were assured that they would be offered opportunities for occupancy at “market affordable” rates. The owners even pledged to explore opportunities for securing the government grants necessary to make a portion of units “deeply affordable”.
Over the ensuing year, it became obvious to residents that none of these commitments or assurances would in fact be met. Evictions of residents began within the year, and the first round of demolitions began shortly thereafter.
Through 2023, an informal working group of tenants convened a series of community conversations and met with the owners to remind them of their prior commitments including the pledges of community engagement and participation. But any interest by the owners in engaging with residents waned abruptly in the face of growing media coverage of the first round of evictions and demolition.
Promises from the owners of follow-up meetings with the residents were broken on multiple occasions. Communications with residents became a one-way street, limited to a semi-dormant website and legal notices to tenants alerting them to eviction dates.
In the face of the deteriorating relationship with the owners, and the increasingly precarious nature of their housing, the tenants agreed to formalize a residents association in the summer of 2023. OBRA was formed and registered, a leadership group elected and an active program of outreach to tenants and the larger community launched.
OBRA’s primary mandate is to advocate on behalf of Ocean Breeze residents with regards to their continued access to decent and affordable homes. To that end, OBRA representatives engage with municipal, provincial and federal politicians, as well as housing agencies, legal aid and the media.
We will not go quietly into the night.