N.B. to spend $100 million to create new public housing units
CBC
The New Brunswick government is using some of its budget surplus to create 380 new public housing units over the next four years.
The $102.2-million project will also include "immediate renovations" to 110 units that have been sitting empty, Social Development Minister Dorothy Shephard said at an announcement in Saint John on Monday.
Shephard said there will be 120 new housing units divided evenly between Saint John, Fredericton and Moncton, with another 68 units in northern New Brunswick. A further 192 units will be established in areas of greatest need — in both rural and urban settings.
"Significant cost-of-living increases, combined with a housing market boom, has contributed to an unprecedented demand for public housing units," said Shephard.
She said it's the first construction project in 38 years for government-owned housing.
While it's not a "silver bullet," Shephard said the project represents "a large leap" in addressing what she acknowledged is a housing crisis.
"I don't know how we can't say there's a crisis," said Shephard.
She said the wait list to get into public housing sits at about 8,700, including 3,700 individuals of working age.
Randy Hatfield, the executive director of Saint John's Human Development Council, said anxiety over available and affordable housing "is palpable."
"So today was a step in the right direction," he said.
Hatfield listed off a "perfect storm" of contributing factors to the province's housing crisis that included "until recently, lagging provincial investments."
"But today's announcement addresses the latter in a big way. This is a huge commitment to the file. It will have a demonstrable impact on the amount of affordable housing in the province."
Hatfield said so much in a person's life depends on the security of having somewhere to live.
The Department of Social Development owns and operates 808 public housing buildings across the province, which represents about 3,800 units, according to a government news release. "Most of these units were built in the 1970s, with the average age being 52 years old."
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