Province will help 2,500 more N.B. households pay their rent
Program has already helped 6,100 individuals and families, but there is waiting list of nearly 12,000
The New Brunswick government will spend $21.1 million to support 2,500 additional households struggling to pay rent, Premier Susan Holt announced Tuesday in Saint John.
"We're doing this to help people who are struggling to find an affordable place to call home," Holt said. "We have a long waiting list of people looking for subsidized housing. We want renters … to choose where they live, and this direct-to-tenant benefit allows them to do that."
The direct-to-tenant program has helped 6,100 households to date, she said, but there is a waiting list of nearly 12,000. The original budget when the rent supplement was announced in 2023 was $22 million, so this will double the amount spent on the program.
Under the province's housing strategy, the goal is to get the waiting list down to 7,500 by next year.
The program is geared toward lower-income households in urban and rural New Brunswick that are paying more than 30 per cent of their income for adequate housing.
David Hickey, minister responsible for the New Brunswick Housing Corporation, said the province made the announcement on the lower west side of Saint John because of the high rate of low-income renters there.
People should be able to stay where they have roots, he said, and not be forced to move to find cheaper rents.
"There's a deep sense of identity and a deep sense of community [on the west side], and we know it's neighbourhoods like this that are going to be supported by funding like this.
"The vision is … to make sure that people can continue to afford and continue to live in the places they have [been living] and make sure that we are stopping the massive inflow into homelessness or more insecure housing situations."
The $21.1 million increase in funding for the program is one of a number of ways the government is trying to make life more affordable for tenants. They also include the recently implemented three per cent rent cap and and efforts to increase the supply of affordable housing.
"We continue the job of making sure that we are accelerating the rate of public housing faster than we ever have," Hickey said. "[We are] making sure that we are investing in partners like … the New Brunswick Non-Profit Housing Association, to make sure that we're leaning on our non-profit partners to build faster than they ever have in communities just like this one."
Randy Hatfield, the executive director of the Human Development Council, said it's important to help residents in neighbourhoods that have a high percentage of renters, many in low-income households.
According to the most recent census data, Hatfield said, 33 per cent of Canadian households are renters. In New Brunswick, the rate is 26 per cent because of its rural nature, but in Saint John, the rate is much higher, at 45 per cent, and it rises to 71 per cent in the city's Ward 3, which includes the lower west side.
Nearly 30 per cent of those renters spend more than 30 per cent of their income on housing. The overall poverty rate is 35.8 per cent, with the child poverty rate at 45.6 per cent.
"Many are struggling, doing the best they can to meet this affordability crisis," Hatfield said. "We have low vacancy rates, low median family incomes, a big gap between the minimum wage and a living wage and, until recently, no rental caps, and long waiting lists for affordable housing."
The Human Development Council recently conducted a survey of people in the province who are homeless or at risk of being homeless.
"[We asked] what caused you to lose your housing most recently, and 29 per cent of respondents said it was not enough income for housing, Hatfield said. "Another question asked them to identify challenges to finding housing and 74 percent said rents are too high.
"This is a welcome affordability and homelessness prevention measure."
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