Housing crisis in New Brunswick could get worse, with more people at risk, advocates warn

The New Brunswick Non-Profit Housing Association is issuing a call to action to all New Brunswickers for help solving the province's housing crisis.

As of last month, there were about 1,500 homeless people in the province's three largest cities, said Peter Corbyn, executive director of the group.

"My concern is that's just the tip of the iceberg," he said.

"As the cost of housing and rental goes up, more and more people will be at risk of losing where they live now."

About 20 per cent of the population is in a precarious situation when it comes to housing, said Corbyn. 

That's based on the latest census information, which found one in five households could not afford more than $880 in rent, he noted. 

"We all know that's gone up substantially," he said.

Average rents in the province now range from $1,000 to $1,400, according to the website apartments.com, and in many cases that doesn't include utilities.

Average home prices in Canada have increased about 10 per cent a year since 2005, said Corbyn, to $700,000 from $200,000, while wages have only increased by about 2.5 per cent a year.

The lowest-priced units are generally owned either by the province, non-profit organizations or co-operatives, and they're in need of some repairs, he said, and more importantly, their numbers haven't increased much in the past 30 years.

The association represents about 170 organizations around the province that operate about 6,500 non-profit and co-operative housing units.

The sector needs to double in size in the next several years, said Corbyn.

Right now, non-profit and co-op housing represents about 3.5 per cent of total housing stock.

The association wants that to grow to 20 per cent to match the needs of that segment of the population in housing insecurity, he said.

The new provincial government has committed to building 30,000 new housing units by 2030.

The association is pushing for at least 6,000 of those to be public housing, non-profit or co-op.

That's 1,200 a year over the next five years — a pace not currently being met.

According to an emailed reply from Housing New Brunswick, 149 public housing units are under construction across the province and planning is underway to add 40 other units this year.

It's not clear how many non-profit units will be created this year, but since 2019, commitments have been made to create 473 units through the Affordable Rental Housing Program, which provides funding for non-profit organizations and private developers.

Its definition of affordable is a unit that would rent at or below the average market housing rent.

Under a federal-provincial agreement that began in 2018, 1,262 units are supposed to be created through that program by 2028.

Another 259 units have been made more affordable since 2019 through a rent supplement program. 

One of the greatest challenges, said Corbyn, is finding people to staff the volunteer boards that run non-profit housing organizations.

These include entities such as Rising Tide in Moncton, part of the Loch Lomond Villa in Saint John, Résidences Habitat Soleil in Bathurst and many 10- to 30-unit operators in rural communities. 

It takes about 1,000 people to do the work, he said.

A survey last year found 60 to 65 per cent of current volunteers were over the age of 60 and 40 per cent were planning to step back within the next three years.

"So we need to find 400 volunteer board members quickly," he said.

The boards oversee financial matters, agreements with Housing N.B., property management and expansion projects.

The commitment can involve some time to learn the ropes, but generally boards meet just a few times a year, said Corbyn.

Experience in the housing sector is a bonus, but not required, he said.

Anyone can get involved to some degree, said Corbyn.

For starters, he suggested following or joining a non-profit housing group on social media.

He'd also like to see less NIMBYism and more people saying, yes, in my backyard, when affordable housing projects are proposed in their neighbourhood.

Besides volunteers, skilled construction workers are also needed, said Corbyn, and a more cohesive process, because getting affordable housing built is fairly complex.

How it works

"The way in which all of the partners relate to each other in the process steps can certainly improve from an efficiency perspective," said Corbyn. 

There are a number of players involved.

The Regional Development Corporation provides pre-development funding, while  Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation can provide seed funding. 

Kaleidoscope Social Impact based in Saint John can provide bridge loans, Housing N.B. can provide $70,000 to $88,000 per unit, and CMHC can provided attractive mortgages.

Municipalities can contribute accelerator funding, while N.B. Power has efficiency incentives and Housing N.B. provides operational funding and rent supplements.

Costs could be lowered and construction time reduced if there was a catalogue of modular home designs, he said, or by working with manufacturers to improve production efficiencies, he said.

And since funding agencies typically don't pay out til the end of a project, non-profits could use some help with cash flow to pay contractors and sub-trades through the course of construction, said Corbyn.

For example, the provincial government could provide a guarantee to bridge that gap, like a parent co-signing for a car or house loan.

The CEO of the New Brunswick Housing Hub echoed the call for gap funding.

Many of the Hub's clients are non-profits that already run housing and are looking to develop more.

They have a certain amount of equity, or assets from their existing property's value, to borrow against, but they still need help to defray the cost of construction if they're going to be able to operate with "deeply affordable" rents, said Nadine Fullarton, referring to housing that costs no more than one third of household income. 

A program that provided $50,000 to $100,000 could make the difference for a project to create 14 to 50 new affordable units, she said.

Fullarton also called for more resources at the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation for processing loan applications. 

Right now it can take up to six months to get approval, she said.