Saint John-Rothesay MP Wayne Long (Image: Danielle McCreadie)
The MP for Saint John-Rothesay says he’s working to bring affordable housing funding to the region.
Wayne Long says he’s been meeting with developers, non-profits and city staff in an effort to find projects to apply for the federal government’s new $1 billion Rapid Housing Initiative.
The funding opportunity, a partnership with the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC), asks for fund applications from groups with projects costing at least $1 million in order to build 3,000 affordable homes nationally.
“There’s no secret that Saint John-Rothesay has a waitlist that’s too long for those that need affordable housing,” Long said. “When you have a list that’s upwards of 12, 13-hundred people, that’s not acceptable.”
In order to access the funds, Long says he needs to be able to bring housing project plans to Ottawa.
“We want to see units built in Saint John within the next 12 months,” he said. “It’s of utmost importance that we have the right projects, the right developers, and the right plans to make an impact and a dent on the waitlist.”
The Liberal MP says that some elements of the fight for affordable housing are provincial, but as the region’s member of parliament, his job is to fight for funding opportunities for the region.
On that topic, Long believes Blaine Higgs’ PC government deserves blame for leaving some funding on the table.
He says the province has ignored “hundreds of millions” in funding, in addition to not yet implementing the Canada Housing Benefit, which provides up to $300 per month directly to low-income households to help pay for rent.
“They really need to focus on spending some of the infrastructure dollars on housing,” Long said.
Discussions around affordable housing have been top of mind particularly since Historica Developments announced it had purchased 150 mid-level apartment rentals in October.
Long said he’s pleased that it was a local developer that purchased the uptown buildings.
He says the topic of rent control is a provincial issue, and he’d like to see communication with renters, developers, and landlords.
“It’s something that needs to be studied and looked at,” he said. “I think there’s room for a bit of a hybrid where rents don’t skyrocket out of control, but we do want to encourage development.”
