New BrunswickSaint John is getting 20 new one-bedroom public housing units in the north end for working-age people, as the provincial government continues to struggle to address the housing crisis across New Brunswick.Two 10-unit complexes in north end to welcome non-elderly single tenants within monthsDavid Hickey, the minister responsible for the New Brunswick Housing Corporation, (second from left) was joined by Health Minister and Portland-Simonds MLA John Dornan, Minister of Post-Secondary Education, Training and Labour Alyson Townsend, the MLA for Rothesay, and Jeremy Maxwell, vice-president of the construction and equipment division of J.D. Irving Ltd. (left) at the public housing announcement Thursday in Saint John. (Bobbi-Jean MacKinnon/CBC)Saint John is getting 20 new one-bedroom public housing units in the north end for working-age people, as the provincial government continues to struggle to address the housing crisis across New Brunswick.A 10-unit modular complex on Boars Head Road is expected to be ready for tenants later this year, with two of the units being accessible, David Hickey, the minister responsible for the New Brunswick Housing Corporation, announced Thursday.Another 10-unit modular development on nearby Woodward Avenue, also with two accessible units, should be complete by early next year, he said.About 2,800 households in Saint John are on the wait list for public housing. Across New Brunswick, it’s nearly 13,000, representing an estimated 21,000 people.”That is a long list of people that desperately need stability and affordability in their housing, and this is an important step towards that,” Hickey said of the 20 new units for “non-elderly singles.”WATCH | N.B. turning to modular construction to meet public housing goals: N.B. housing minister touts modular construction in effort to add public housingWith a public housing waiting list of 13,000 households, building new homes is important. Minister David Hickey plans to use modular housing to help the government meet its target of building 400 units by the end of its mandate, before the next scheduled election in October 2028. The Holt government has committed to build 573 new public housing units during its mandate. That includes 233 units which were already built or started under a 380-unit pledge by the Higgs government.Hickey said he’s hopeful the government will meet its goal, and believes modular housing will be key.”Modular plays a really important role in our ability to get more on the market faster,” he told reporters.”New Brunswick is really well-positioned from a modular perspective because we’ve got five … leading modular factories in the country right here,” including Kent Homes, which is building the two Saint John complexes on surplus government-owned land.”This is a great testament to how fast something can come together,” Hickey said.Dornan and Hickey toured one of the accessible units in the Boars Head complex Thursday, along with reporters. (Graham Thompson/CBC)Health Minister John Dornan, the MLA for the Portland-Simonds riding in which the complexes are located, said he travels past the site several times a day, and “in the spring, there was nothing here but rock and woods.”And now we have two gorgeous homes that have been brought in over a very short period of time,” he said.”So it shows that government, with the support of people in the area, our communities, our builders, can do things very quickly when necessary.”Dornan described the two developments as “very positive news” that will also come with health benefits.”What we know is that the people that are the most unhealthy in our population are people that do not have a roof over their heads, bar none,” he said.Small projects better for vibrant communitiesHickey contends small projects like this also make for healthier communities and are a better approach than large developments, despite the growing need.”I think that there’s a recognition that building [public housing] neighbourhoods like Crescent Valley was bad for urban planning,” he said.”We know that we need to make sure we’re doing a good job of integrating public housing into community because we know that segregating folks of a particular income level and need does not create vibrant communities.”It’s not the easy option,” he said. “But in 50 years, I don’t want to look back and say, ‘Man, we really should have been smarter about the way we built our public housing.'”We’re going to do it in a way that’s measured and reflects what urban planners for a long time have said, how you build cities and how you build integrated communities.”Announcement for Campbellton pendingNew Brunswick has nearly 3,900 public housing units, with more expected to open before the end of the year.Work is underway on 101 additional public housing units at 10 sites across the province.Hickey told CBC News he expects to make a similar announcement in Campbellton within the next couple of weeks.The long-term goal is for 20 per cent of the New Brunswick housing market to be community housing, Hickey said.It’s an ambitious target, he said, noting the level currently stands at about 3.5 per cent.”Our aim is to get there and we believe that that will establish the solid foundation of community housing that we need in order to have the resiliency in our housing market to be able to deal with the chronic challenges that we all know we have … when it comes to housing.”Hickey eyes ‘underused’ landIn addition to using surplus government-owned land for public housing, Hickey hopes to focus on underused property as well.He cited Millidgeville North School on Woodward Avenue as an example. It sits on a roughly 16-hectare parcel, which is “massively underused,” he said.There could be public housing units on the road frontage, while the water frontage could be sold to a private developer, with that money helping to pay for more public housing, Hickey said.He hopes to have a system in place by next year to identify underused government-owned land, he said.”If government truly recognizes we’re in a housing crisis, every department needs to play a role.”The new Saint John units will go to non-elderly singles on the waitlist, based on the most immediate need, Hickey said.Public housing has traditionally geared more toward seniors and families, creating a gap for these individuals, he said.
Saint John to get 20 new public housing units with help of modular construction
