Five people will come off the NB Housing waitlist in St. Stephen.
The announcement was made on Wednesday as part of an ongoing effort to build up to 570 affordable housing units across the province through the re-established New Brunswick Housing Corporation.
New Brunswick’s minister responsible for housing David Hickey said it is one of a 127 under construction.
“We want to continue to build public housing faster than we have,” he said in an interview with The Courier. “We’re scraping the rust off an organization that hasn’t built public housing in the last 30 years. We’re also partnering with non-profits.”
The province has placed a focus on modular home manufacturing to expedite the amount of time it takes to build homes. Hickey said rural areas haven’t seen this type of housing need before and those impacts are being felt acutely in St. Stephen.
“That’s why we need to make partnerships like this,” he said. “This is an example of modular construction. These units were not built in St. Stephen, they were brought here and local contractors were used to support the installation of them on this site.”
It is welcomed news for St. Stephen Mayor Allan MacEachern.
“It’s really great and we have to support all levels of people in our community,” he said. “I’m glad that we’re doing that here.”
MacEachern said he hopes this building will show how hard the municipality is working toward building more housing that also helps with affordability.
“It’s hard when you don’t see it happening,” he said. “A lot of people don’t understand the work behind the scenes and it’s a lot of work. A building is one thing– to get it through the bureaucracy, it’s challenging.”
The community like so many has struggled with the housing crisis–combined with issues of stagnant wages and increased cost of living. It has meant more than 100 people are experiencing homelessness in the greater St. Stephen area.
St. Stephen’s Chief Administrative Officer Jeff Renaud said staff are working with several developers on two multi-residential properties.
“[We’re] working with a developer who [is] looking at potentially 63 units being constructed in the next little while if we can reach the finalization of that discussion,” he said during the July 30 council meeting.
It is also working toward grant funding to make a piece of municipal property development ready for a possible 100 unit multi-residential building.
“The last concept we had was 124 units over a three phase project, potentially,” Renaud said. “The federal government has been asking lots of questions which is a good sign usually. We have their attention on our file.”
Coun. Emily Rodas said she understands housing isn’t the mandate of the municipality but it does impact the community when there isn’t enough.
“This is super exciting when I see how many units are potentially coming,” she said during the July 30 regular meeting of the council.
