Feds give Saint John $9 million to build more homes

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The City of Saint John has received a $9.18-million windfall in federal funds to speed up housing construction.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau paid a visit to the Port City on Wednesday to announce the city’s share of the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation’s $4-billion Housing Accelerator Fund, the 22nd municipality to receive funding so far.

The funds will be used to reduce red tape around development, facilitating the construction of 285 “additional housing units” between 2024 and 2026, according to Saint John Mayor Donna Reardon.

Trudeau called Saint John’s plan “an ambitious proposal.”

“It’s going to increase densification, it’s going to accelerate the processes in terms of building more housing more quickly.”

As part of the funding agreement, the city will be required to deliver on 1,124 new housing units over the next three years, of which 285 have to be “additional units created through this funding envelope,” said city housing manager Andrew Reid.

About 9 per cent of the units, so about 101, have to be affordable, Reid added.

According to a press release accompanying the announcement, the total number of new units created is expected to reach 1,700 in the next 10 years.

The application Saint John submitted included the development of eight initiatives, which include incentives for mid-density housing, an affordable housing grant, redeveloping city land, setting up a housing entity, zoning bylaw updates and streamlining permitting processes.

The original price tag the city applied for was $14.5 million, with an aim of bringing the city’s average annual housing starts from about 280 to 425. Last summer, city staff informed Saint John council that Saint John will need to see the creation of 700 new housing units per year in order to meet its goals for population growth.

Asked why the city didn’t receive the full $14.5 million, Trudeau said the housing accelerator fund was established “for the express purpose of making sure that cities were able to meet their own ambitions for growth.”

The $9.18 million, he said, “we feel is the right level to really enable Saint John to accelerate to get more homes built.”

Reid said the CMHC “adjusted the bar for how many units we’re required to deliver.”

“We aren’t receiving less to have to deliver the same amount,” he continued. “The target has been reduced as well.”

He said the city is “still in the same ballpark” on the cost to deliver its plan.

“It’s all good,” Reardon said about the funding total.

Reid said work has already begun by city staff on the eight initiatives, since the city learned it would be receiving funding well before the official announcement.

“We know the money has to be spent within a certain period,” he said. “So it’s really all hands on deck to make sure we’re going to make full use of it.”

Reid said the city will be reporting annually to the CMHC on permitting activity, to monitor that it is achieving its set targets.

Saint John is not the first New Brunswick city to receive housing accelerator funding. Moncton learned it would receive $15 million for 490 new units in November. Fredericton is also tapped to receive funds, though the amount has yet to be released.

In nearby Rothesay and Quispamsis, applications worth $5.6 million and $9 million were submitted in September.

With files from Alan Cochrane