HOUSING

Homeless shelters and affordable housing have been an important topic since 2019 and they will continue to be.

The city does not build shelters or affordable housing, and it cannot force developers to provide affordable units. Developers and not-for-profit groups build them. The City can encourage both. 

Since 2021, Council has received and invested about 6.5 million dollars to reduce homelessness. However, despite the 212 units built since 2021 by Rising Tide, The Humanity Project and Harvest House, there is a need for 600 more. That is because the number of homeless citizens has quadrupled since 2021, going from 215 in 2021 to 830 today. 

More Monctonians could become homeless if the cost of food and housing continues to increase.

Since 2024, Council has received and invested 5.5 million dollars to support the construction of 2,200 affordable housing units. We should reach the 2,500 mark this summer.

The City must continue to support our developers and not-for-profit organizations. 

To consult the City's plan on affordable housing: https://www5.moncton.ca/docs/Implementation_Plan_Affordable_Housing.PDF 

Another way to do more and better is to establish a municipal housing authority. 

Such an arms-length agency would manage vacant City-owned lots to encourage development and to provide start-up funding to not-for-profit groups and developers to build affordable housing units. 

The idea of a housing authority is not new. 

The City's first Social Inclusion Committee, which I established and co-chaired with Councillor Paul Pellerin, made it a priority recommendation to Council in 2010. Committee members included local experts in the field: Sister Auréa Cormier, Debbie McInnis, Clare Archibald and Sue Calhoon. The majority of Council did not establish one. 

The 2016 Social Inclusion Summit also recommended its establishment. I did not sit on Council from 2016 and 2021, so I cannot explain why it did not establish a housing authority.

I made a motion in April to explore the pros and cons of a municipal housing authority.

If such an authority is feasible and if I am re-elected, I will work to establish it to help build 2,000 affordable units.  

I commit to the addition of approximately 2,000 affordable housing units in Moncton by 2036.

How? By transforming the Province’s 7 segregated developments into integrated housing developments. 

Moncton hosts 7 segregated housing developments built in the 1950s, ‘60s and ‘70s by the Province for its social assistance clients. They are located on Lewis, Katherine, McKenzie, Norman, Joyce and Palisade, as well as Auburn Circle. Research has since proven that segregated housing does more harm than good. Children, in particular, suffer from the stigma associated with segregated housing. However, the Province maintains segregated developments in Moncton and, in fact, wants to add more. This is unacceptable. 

So, I made a motion in 2010 and again in 2023, adopted by Council, to collaborate with the Province in eliminating the seven segregated developments, starting with a pilot project on Lewis Street. The transformation of all seven developments will eliminate 410 segregated housing units and replace them with approximately 2,000 affordable and integrated residences in the city, including social assistance beneficiaries.

I commit to eliminating 2 of the 7 existing segregated housing projects over the next four years and setting in motion the measures to eliminate the other 5 projects before 2036.