Loss of affordable rents forces growing number onto waitlist for subsidized housing

New Brunswick has seen its supply of affordable apartments shrink rapidly in the past 10 years, forcing a growing number of families and individuals out of their homes and onto a waitlist for subsidized housing.

That's the nightmare situation Marie Roy, 77, of Bathurst has found herself in. Roy has lived in her apartment for more than a decade, and she expected to be there for the rest of her life. With a pension of $1,600 per month, her $580 rent was slightly more than 30 per cent of her income, but she still considered it affordable. Then, at the end of August, the new owner of her building announced that her rent would almost double — to $1,150 per month. "I was on the phone with N.B. Housing," Roy said through tears. "I have no idea what I'm going to do, no idea. It's cruel." According to Steve Pomeroy, a senior research fellow with the Centre for Urban Research and Education at Carleton University in Ottawa, census numbers between 2011 and 2016 show New Brunswick lost 4,700 affordable rental units overall.