Affordable housing was top of mind both inside and outside the Saint John Trade and Convention Centre at the first installment of the province’s housing summit series.
“There are no quick fixes to this complex issue of housing and no one department or organization that can solve this problem on their own,” reiterated housing minister Jill Green speaking to the crowd inside the convention centre. Green has been singing this refrain for a while as the province tries to get a handle on the rapid population growth it’s seen in the last three years.
Partnering with the New Brunswick Real Estate Association, the summit includes builders, developers, not-for-profits, co-op organizations, municipalities, support agencies, educators and training and labour experts as well as those seeking housing like students and those looking for work.
The goal of the series is to use the information gathered to develop a housing strategy to be released in June. The strategy will be updated every two years to reflect market realities Green says.
“Today’s summit provides an exciting opportunity to get all the key housing stakeholders together in one room to help identify shared priorities.”
Outside the convention centre, however, cries of “housing is a human right” could be heard as affordable housing advocacy group ACORN held a rally calling on the government to reinstate rent controls and prevent renovictions. Protest organizers say politicians need to be reminded of what’s really needed to address the housing crisis.
“What we’re saying is affordable housing starts with rent control,” says Nichola Taylor of ACORN. “You can build all the affordable housing you want to…but you need rent control in order to stabilize that.”
Immigration to the province, both from inside and outside of Canada, has put increasing pressure on an already exceedingly tight rental and housing market. Issues of affordability have been exacerbated as demand has increased.
New Brunswick opted to remove its rent cap in 2023, in the hopes of attracting more developers into the rental market space.
Inside the summit, Green says that there are “mixed sentiments on the rent cap.”
“We know historically rent caps have not been tremendously successful…it’s the inadequate supply of the affordable housing that is our biggest challenge today.”
Outside, the sentiment was clear.
“Without [rent control] we’re seeing an increase in homelessness across the province. If you walk around uptown Saint John right now you can see the amount of homelessness has just skyrocketed,” says Sarah Lunney of ACORN. “That’s a direct result of the rising cost of living and unaffordable housing that’s just proliferated across the market.”
On May 1 the NB Coalition for Tenants Rights released a report finding that the province lost almost 9000 rental homes between 2016 and 2021, representing an estimated 25 per cent of the housing stock affordable for households earning less than $30,000 per year. The report attributes the loss to an increase in capital funds and asset management firms buying these properties.
Back inside the summit, Green was asked about the findings of the report.
“The goal today is to think about innovative solutions to meet those challenges and correct the course that we’re on.”
“We see that need growing in an income bracket that we haven’t seen before, that moderate-income bracket,” says non-profit housing organization Housing Alternatives Inc. executive director Kit Hickey.
“So the loss of affordable housing units has been extremely problematic over more recent years.”
Green says the government has been working quickly and reevaluating its approach to the issue, to make sure it’s working.
“A couple of weeks ago I was asked for data related to the phasing in of rent increases above the consumer price index, as our new legislation would allow.”
She says eight cases have been identified and the government is working with the tenants to help them address the low vacancy pressure and increased cost of living stress by providing financial support as the increases are phased in.
Issues of radon in public housing units were another challenge the government has been faced with.
“Housing is such an important precondition for a lot of the ways that we want to be successful as a province,” says Ken Forrest, director of planning and development for the City of Fredericton.
Alex Graham is a reporter with Huddle, an Acadia Broadcasting content-sharing partner.
