Province announces $276K for carpentry college to help create affordable housing

The provincial government is investing in a new program to help build more homes faster in Fredericton. 

Fifteen carpentry students from the Carpenter Millwright College of New Brunswick will work alongside three Red Seal carpenters to construct homes on Fredericton's north side in partnership with Habitat for Humanity. 

The students will spend 20 weeks doing classroom study and 32 weeks of on-the-job training. 

The government is investing $276,000 for the program that will run for one year. 

Greg Turner, the minister of Post-Secondary Education, Training and Labour, said the goal is to help solve the housing shortage in the city and increase the number of skilled trades workers in New Brunswick. 

"Any time you have a demand, you've got to find the resources to meet that demand … We had the land, we had the lumber and we had everything. We need the people to put them together," Turner said.

WATCH | 'The need has never been larger'

Province invests $276,000 to train carpenters to build new homes on Fredericton’s north side

5 months ago

Duration 1:39

Habitat for Humanity New Brunswick and the Carpenter Millwright College will partner to deliver a one-year carpentry training program that will see five new homes built for families with low incomes.

As part of the program, the 15 students will help construct five homes for Habitat for Humanity. 

CEO Perry Kendall said the program is a first for the province.  

"We're very excited about this pilot program. We have every intent of seeing this duplicated in — whether it be here in Fredericton and in other parts of the province," said Kendall.

Habitat for Humanity is a non-profit organization that creates home ownership opportunities for low-income families through donations of monetary value and labour.

The city of Fredericton is providing 10 plots of land off of Cuffman Street near Leo Hayes High School for the homes. 

Mayor Kate Rogers said the city is also providing funds through the affordable home ownership program.

Rogers added the city is seeing more "innovative partnered applications" such as the one the province has announced.

"Now that we've started rolling these programs out, we're seeing more developers have an interest in those programs. They're starting to respond. So, just now, we're starting to see these neat applications, these partnered applications come through the door," said Rogers. 

According to the province, labour force projections indicate about 10,000 workers will be needed in the construction sector over the next 10 years. That is 30 per cent of employment in that sector.  

"As everyone knows, there's a shortage of labour in New Brunswick, a major shortage and there's also a shortage of housing. So we've managed to put the two together," said James Dawson, provincial manager at the Atlantic Canada Regional Council of Carpenters, Millwrights and Allied Workers.

Dawson said the project will help increase the number of carpentry apprenticeships as well as increase the number of houses in Fredericton.  

Kendall said foundations for the five houses are expected to be poured by the end of this year.

He said the carpentry students will be building walls for the homes at the college over the winter months. Construction will resume on site in March with families moving into their new homes by "mid to late next year."