Rural Southwest New Brunswick Shut Out of Federal Housing Accelerator Fund

During the regular council meeting for the Municipality of Eastern Charlotte for the month of March 2024, discussions revolved around strategic investments in local infrastructure, regulatory measures for temporary businesses, and the establishment of an Age-friendly Community Advisory Committee. The municipality also addressed financial challenges and advocated for collaboration between government levels to support local initiatives. Notably, the denial of federal funding under the Housing Accelerator Fund prompted the allocation of funds towards a new development fund to incentivize multi-unit developments, showcasing proactive steps to address housing challenges.

"The municipality of Eastern Charlotte has been denied federal funding under the Housing Accelerator Fund," said Mayor John Craig. "Announced by the federal government in 2021, the multi-billion Housing Housing Accelerator Fund is self-described as a funding programme, removing barriers to encourage to encourage local initiatives to build more homes faster, and the program is helping increase housing supply and supporting the development of communities that are more affordable, diverse, and climate-resilient. Eastern Charlotte, with the assistance of the Southwest Regional Service Commission, made an application worth a million dollars that would assist in new housing initiatives. Eastern Charlotte, along with the other municipalities in Southwest New Brunswick, received the application denial late last week. This is very frustrating and disappointing. We have several housing developments waiting to move ahead, and this funding would have brought a couple of them over the finish line. This news only compacts the reality that our municipality received 40% less in community funding and equalization grant from the province when compared to 2022."

Craig said all of rural Southwest New Brunswick was shut out from this funding and that disparities in government funding for rural areas like Eastern Charlotte, McAdam, St. Stephen, and St. Andrews, emphasizing the need for equitable support for rural development. 

"With less and less financial support, it makes it difficult to support growth initiatives and address the housing demand that we have here in Eastern Charlotte," said Craig. "For the 2024 budget, Eastern Charlotte introduced over $200,000 towards a new development fund to assist with incentive grants for multi-unit developments. This municipal fund has been exclusively funded from industrial and non-residential tax revenue. Without an ejection of new funding for new development from the upper levels, our only option is local tax revenue. We are still moving through with municipal reform and the sharing of costs associated with the larger municipality. The Southwest of New Brunswick was totally left out. We were shut out. You got areas of the province of New Brunswick that got a fair amount of the money, big chunks of money. Nothing against those communities. That's great that they got it. But the areas that got them got very large amounts. I'm going to use Moncton, New Brunswick, which got $15.5 million. Saint John, just up the road, got $9.2 to $10.2 million. Bathurst: $10.5 million. Fredericton: $10 million. Here's the big one. The federal minister lives in the Halifax area, which got $79--almost $80 million for Halifax. And what does the Southwest of New Brunswick get? Zero."

During the rest of the meeting, the regulation of ATV use on public streets, water quality issues in Blacks Harbour, and community engagement initiatives for recreational spaces were also key points of discussion.