The New Brunswick government is promising up to $22.5 million annually to underwrite advance preparations for affordable housing projects. The money is to be split between two new funds to support pre-construction studies and core infrastructure needed to accommodate new housing development in small communities.

Both funds are aligned with the housing strategy the provincial government unveiled earlier this year, which sets targets for 6,000 new housing starts per year and a 32 per cent decrease in the waitlist for subsidized accommodations by 2026, reducing it to 7,500 from the current 11,000 individuals or families. Successful applicants can receive grants to cover up to 75 per cent of their eligible project expenditures with the further possibility of up to 90 per cent coverage in “extenuating circumstances”.

Pre-construction funds are on offer to not-for-profit corporations, municipalities, regional service commissions and First Nations communities and organizations for pre-construction documentation such as housing needs assessments, feasibility studies, business plans and engineering/architectural reports. Nackawic-Millville, a municipality of about 1,000 situated on the Saint John River roughly 65 kilometres from Fredericton, has received the first grant through the program. It will use the $351,000 to complete a housing development plan for a 19-hectare municipally owned tract.

First Nations and municipalities with fewer than 25,000 residents are eligible to apply for infrastructure funding, which is to be used to install or upgrade core services, such as water, wastewater and roads, required for a new housing development. The fund is meant to alleviate costs that would otherwise undermine the economic viability of a project.

“One of the barriers we heard about during our housing strategy development consultations was a lack of available working capital, particularly in small communities and for non-profit housing providers,” says Jill Green the Minister for Social Development and the New Brunswick Housing Corporation. “The other barrier is that many proposed small community housing developments are stalled due to a lack of serviced properties, such as water, roads and wastewater.”