“I am more hopeful than I have ever been over the last two to three years,” Moncton mayor Dawn Arnold said in an interview following federal and provincial housing investment announcement in New Brunswick.
On Friday, the federal and provincial governments said they had made a $10.5-million investment into the renovation of 181 existing affordable units, as well as the creation of 20 affordable units that are already occupied.
The new units on Joyce Avenue house single men with issues such as mental health, substance use disorder and disabilities.
Social Development Minister Dorothy Shephard said more investments are on the way, with the provincial government planning to invest $100 million in affordable housing over the next three budgets.
“We know that right now with the growth of our province, and we’re standing in (Moncton,) the fastest growing city in the country, affordable housing is going to be necessary not just for those who are most vulnerable, but those who are lower income and middle income to have units that they can afford,” Shephard said in an interview on Friday.
Downtown City Housing Inc. Board President Vincent Merola said his organization is “looking at a new 20-unit affordable build of micro duplexes and we will be relying on our partners at all three levels of government” in the near future.
The non-profit received $2.4 million from the joint investment to renovate the units in their affordable building for seniors on Foundry Street in Moncton.
Cornerstone Co-Operative Housing which operates 100 affordable units in Moncton, Dieppe Housing Co-op Ltd, which operates 25 units in Dieppe also received funding for repairs.
Arnold, who has been a vocal critic of the province’s handling of Moncton’s growing homelessness issue, said she now feels optimistic about collaboration between the province and the city.
“(Minister Dorothy Shephard) has really stepped up in a significant way and she has put the proper systems in place,” Arnold said.
“It’s been a hard two to three years, it’s been a slog but we’ve worked very hard from an advocacy perspective and I believe the right players are around the table right now to effect the positive change that we desperately need in our community,” she said.
There has been contention over the exact number of unhoused individuals in Moncton.
YMCA Reconnect Program Services Director Trevor Goodwin told city council in November the number was more than 500, while Shephard maintained on Friday the province believes the number to be a little over 200.
She said all four of Moncton’s shelters are now working with a federal system used to keep track of the number of homeless people in a city.
“We are now going to be able to track each of these individuals and understand where there might have been duplication of counts, what their needs are, why they are going where they are,” she said.
The city’s newest shelter, the Moncton Lion’s Community Centre, hosts between 70 and 80 people each night, according to the province.
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