Latest news with #NewBrunswickHousingCorporation
CTV News
3 hours ago
- Business
- CTV News
Public housing units lack practices to ensure safety, timely maintenance: N.B. AG
New Brunswick Auditor General Paul Martin speaks to reporters in Fredericton on June 10, 2025. (Nick Moore/CTV) New Brunswick Auditor General Paul Martin says public housing units in the province lack systems and practices to ensure they're well-maintained, safe, and habitable for tenants on a timely basis. In a report released Tuesday, Martin says unit inspections carried out by the New Brunswick Housing Corporation aren't being monitored as required, nor are they consistently done. Martin's report found out of 3,045 work orders issued for pests and bed bugs, 53 per cent weren't meeting maintenance timeline targets. Of those 3,045 work orders, 53 cases took between 366 and 1,068 days to resolve. Despite the corporation's 30-day turnaround policy, the auditor general's report found it took an average of 140 days to fill vacant units. Martin also said the corporation hadn't established a budget allocation for 2024-25, making it impossible to monitor spending and make resource allocation decisions. The New Brunswick Housing Corporation maintains 4,630 units across the province. NB Power early retirement program lacked oversight: AG In a separate chapter released Tuesday, Martin said an early retirement program offered to NB Power employees in 2022 overstated cost-saving benefits, while having inadequate governance and oversight. Martin said there were discrepancies in the application of program rules with a lack of adequate information provided to the board as part of its decision-making. Eligibility for the early retirement program required employees to be 55 or older on Dec. 31, 2022, and have two years or more of service to NB Power. The AG report said some employees who accepted an early retirement package later returned to NB Power in contract positions. More to come… For more New Brunswick news, visit our dedicated provincial page.
Global News
5 hours ago
- Business
- Global News
New Brunswick not properly maintaining public housing stock, says auditor
New Brunswick's auditor general says the province's public housing agency is not properly maintaining its stock of subsidized homes. Paul Martin released his report today on his investigation into the maintenance of 4,630 public housing units by the New Brunswick Housing Corporation. The report says that between April 1, 2023, and Dec. 31, 2024, 85 per cent of units under audit did not meet inspection requirements. Get daily National news Get the day's top news, political, economic, and current affairs headlines, delivered to your inbox once a day. Sign up for daily National newsletter Sign Up By providing your email address, you have read and agree to Global News' Terms and Conditions and Privacy Policy It says that work orders for such things as repairs to smoke alarms, appliances, and flooring were not completed on a timely basis. As well, Martin's report says the agency did not create a budget for the 2024-25 fiscal year, leaving officials unable to properly plan operations. He says it took the housing agency an average of 140 days to prepare a unit for a new tenant, instead of the one-month limit required by the Crown corporation's policy. Story continues below advertisement This report by The Canadian Press was first published June 10, 2025.
CTV News
6 days ago
- Business
- CTV News
N.B. holds rent cap increase at 3 per cent amid ‘affordability issues'
David Hickey, minister responsible for the New Brunswick Housing Corporation, makes an announcement on May 20, 2025. (New Brunswick government) The government of New Brunswick will keep its rent cap increase at three per cent for the 2025-26 fiscal year. The rent control measure took effect in February after being announced in late 2024. The province said it is meant to prevent the displacement of tenants by limiting spikes in rental prices. 'While we have seen a recent increase in the number of rental units in New Brunswick, tenants are still encountering low vacancy rates and rising rent prices,' said David Hickey, the minister responsible for the New Brunswick Housing Corporation. 'We're keeping the rent cap in place for this fiscal year to help provide stability and to give us more time to address the issues driving these challenges in the market.' The cap limits the amount the price of a rental can be increased each year to three per cent. It is subject to an annual review. It is also being considered as part of the current review of the Residential Tenancies Act, said a news release from the province. Hickey said the cap provides stability for renters after a 40 per cent increase in rent over the past six years. 'This follows other supports we've introduced to help landlords and developers,' he said. The province introduced a rebate on the provincial portion of the HST for new rental builds that started after Nov. 15, 2024. It has proposed legislation that would freeze property assessments for homeowners, landlords and businesses for one year as it reforms its property tax system. The next review of the rental cap is in May 2026. For more New Brunswick news, visit our dedicated provincial page.
CBC
20-05-2025
- Business
- CBC
Province will help 2,500 more N.B. households pay their rent
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. 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. WATCH | N.B. is expanding a rental subsidy program. Here's why: 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.
