New BrunswickNew Brunswick Premier Susan Holt said she expects some results out of the newly created government task force on homelessness by the end of the year.’This is going to happen in a matter of weeks, not months,’ premier saysJordan Gill · CBC News · Posted: Sep 26, 2025 5:00 AM EDT | Last Updated: 2 hours agoPolitical panel consisting of 3 New Brunswick party leaders talks about homelessnessPremier Susan Holt says she expects results from a ministerial task force on homelessness by the end of the year. Opposition Leader Glen Savoie says the government should have moved sooner. Premier Susan Holt said she expects some results out of the newly created government task force on homelessness in New Brunswick by the end of the year.”This is a group that’s ready to move quickly and there’s lots of different things that need to get done,” Holt said during a political panel discussion on Information Morning Fredericton, recorded Thursday. “This is going to happen in a matter of weeks, not months.”The province launched a ministerial task force on homelessness last week, made up of ministers and deputy ministers from key departments such as Social Development, Justice, Public Safety and Local Government.Holt’s government said in a statement that the task force’s “first actions will include a provincial homelessness strategy and establishing an advisory council of community partners.”But interim Progressive Conservative leader Glen Savoie said the Liberals have been in power for about a year and should have already made progress on the pressing topic.’I’d like to see a government with a heartbeat on this file because the situation is getting worse,’ said Opposition Leader Glen Savoie. (Chad Ingraham/CBC)”She said that she was going to be a government with heart,” Savoie said of Holt. “Well, I’d like to see a government with a heartbeat on this file, because the situation is getting worse.”Green Party Leader David Coon also questioned the need for the task force, saying the issues around homelessness are already well known.”In this province, since 2014, we had a four-year project called At Home… in Moncton that was very successful,” said Coon.”One of the things they identified there was [that] the biggest problem was trying to get Social Development and Health to row in the same direction… That’s a problem and they identify that very clearly.”‘I’ve had constituents come to me who ended up being sent out of province and got excellent rehabilitation treatment out of province,’ said Green Party Leader David Coon. (Chad Ingraham/CBC)Holt said the province has made headway on several files relating to homelessness since her Liberal party won a majority government last year, ending six years of rule by then-premier Blaine Higgs and the Progressive Conservatives.”We immediately moved to put a rent cap in place. Then we moved to increase the budget… to the housing corporation,” she said.She said the New Brunswick Housing Corporation is in the process of building hundreds of new units, whereas it had been building tens under previous governments.Addictions services raisedOne area Savoie said needs attention now is addiction services, especially rehabilitation and treatment beds. That’s something the Higgs government had been working on, he said.”There was a 50-bed facility that was supposed to be open in Grand Bay-Westfield that, you know, is now off the table,” said Savoie, adding that construction had been scheduled to begin on the site northwest of Saint John this year.Holt said those beds are coming, but they will be using existing infrastructure, not placed in a new facility.”The project is moving ahead, the locations have been identified, renovations are underway,” the premier said.Information Morning – Fredericton33:54Political panel – HomelessnessA group of New Brunswick MLAs join Colleen Kitts-Goguen to dig into the government’s new strategy on homelessness, which starts with a task force. At the table: Premier Susan Holt for the Liberal government, Glen Savoie of the Progressive Conservatives. He’s also the interim leader of the official opposition. And David Coon, leader of the Green Party. Coon said that even if those 50 beds do come through, they aren’t enough.”I’ve had constituents come to me who ended up being sent out of province and got excellent rehabilitation treatment out of province,” he said.”It’s expensive for us to do that because we should be — and have started a long time ago — investing in more rehab beds in our own province and more centres.”With files from Information Morning Fredericton
Holt expects to see some results from homelessness task force by the end of 2025
