The Province of New Brunswick is spending $7.4 million for an emergency fund that will setup a conditional grant program for community non-profit housing organizations with the intent of supporting the homeless. New Brunswick Housing Corporation will use the funding and will collaborate with the Department of Social Development to start the Supportive Housing Emergency Grant. The money will be given to eligible community non-profit housing groups to either create bridge and supportive housing projects or to maintain shelters at risk in the province. David Hickey, minister responsible for the corporation and chair of a ministerial task force on homelessness, said the government has been working on this project for months. “Funding these projects through the grant program leverages community capacity and it allows us to move quickly in our efforts to reduce homelessness,” said Hickey in a news release Tuesday morning. On Sept. 17, Hickey announced a ministerial task force on homelessness that will work on a multi-year plan to lower the number of people experiencing chronic homelessness by 40 per cent by 2029. Close to 1,000 people in the province experienced chronic homelessness in the month of August. That included over 500 in Moncton alone. Discussions are being held with several community partners around New Brunswick to identify projects that are in the advanced stages of planning and development but need some extra funding to be completed. Additional funding will be used to establish support programs to meet the needs of new tenants once the projects have begun. “Community agencies will provide supportive housing with wraparound services to meet the complex needs of the people who’ll benefit from these services, which will provide the best opportunities for success,” said Social Development Minister Cindy Miles, who is also a member of the five-minister task force. Hickey said the newly formed ministerial group will coordinate efforts with multiple departments such as housing, justice and public safety, social development, local government and mental health and addictions. Hickey and Miles spoke to reporters in Fredericton shortly after the announcement. Hickey said the need for the units is substantial. “We’ve got 329 people living on the street this month in Fredericton. We’ve got 370 living on the street this month in Saint John. We’ve got 580 living on the street this month in Moncton and that doesn’t include our smaller areas,” said Hickey. Hickey said the funding is targeted at organizations who are operating in the community to put together supported housing projects to get people housed quickly. “This is not shelter funding. This is specific unit-based supportive housing. These are not temporary shelters. These are actual places for people to live in the short-term as transitioning from a tent to a bed. This is a place where someone will have an address, a place to live and 24-7 support around them as part of these projects,” said Hickey. The money is ready to go, Hickey said, and the province is already working with community organizations throughout the province, with announcements being made as each project comes about. “These are projects that we would see that would operate in the short term. So think two or three years while we continue to deal with the crisis,” said Hickey. Miles said the funding is about wraparound supports and meeting people where they’re at. “These projects are going to look different in every community,” said Miles. “It will be social development that will be in there supporting those community opportunities, supporting those community partners that need some very unique and different type of supports.” Harvest House Atlantic Executive Director Leon Baker said they served almost 250,000 meals at their downtown Moncton shelter last year. “Homelessness is increasing,” said Baker. Baker said it’s important to remember homelessness is not just about addiction and mental health, it’s about affordability. “We’ve got to come up with solutions that are affordable and for those people who I’ll say are in rough situations in their life and are maybe not ready for free-market rent. We need to provide exactly what this announcement is about today. Supportive housing that we can wrap ourselves or tie ourselves to that individual in order to help them move forward,” said Baker. First thing Tuesday morning, Baker said he contacted the province about four projects Harvest House has on the go that need additional funding. “I have contacted Social Development already today and said, ‘You know what, this announcement is great, now how do we leverage that funding, that grant money? How de align with Housing NB and with Social Development in order to move one of these, if not all four of these projects forward?” said Baker. For more New Brunswick news, visit our dedicated provincial page.
