A Mayor’s Roundtable on Housing has been meeting since August in Tantramar.
Mayor Andrew Black shared the news publicly for the first time on Monday afternoon, at the tail end of council’s monthly committee of the whole meeting. Black said the roundtable was created in August, “to initiate a conversation about housing and the housing crisis and how to address those concerns within Tantramar.”
The new roundtable comes at a time when municipal governments are taking more of an active role in solutions to housing issues in their communities. Across the border, Amherst town council voted in October 2022 to fund a position with the Cumberland Homelessness and Housing Support Association, and also appointed a town representative to the organization’s board. As recently reported by CHMA’s Tori Weldon, that move is bearing fruit as the organization prepares to open a new community hub next month, bringing its shelter and other services under one roof.
And recently both Moncton and Saint John signed direct funding agreements with the federal government to provide development incentives which the cities say will help increase housing supply.
So far, Black’s Roundtable on Housing is not formalized, and Black clarified on Monday that the group is not an actual committee of council, which would fall under the town’s bylaws and be accountable to council and the public.
“It hasn’t been sanctioned by council, so it’s not a committee of council… It’s just a non-formalized group of individuals getting together to talk about this topic,” said Black.
Roundtable meetings have been and will remain private though Black said the group has discussed the possibility of a wider stakeholder meeting in the near future.
“Our focus for the next couple of months is to have a larger stakeholder engagement session… a large event where we pull in people from our community,” said Black. “We’ll go over what we’ve talked about and kind of see if we’re on the right track… At that point, maybe there’ll be interest from others within the community to maybe join the roundtable.”
Black told council he formed the group by inviting community members whom he felt had relevant knowledge and experience, and that he felt would represent various aspects of the housing spectrum. Councillor Michael Tower is one of the nine members, in addition to Black. The rest of the membership is made up of Megan Mitton, Donna Hurley, Margaret Tusz-King, Eric Tusz-King, Jeff Faulkner, Natalie Donagher, Bob Hickman and Sadie Shelley.
Tower read a short report about what the group has discussed during its five meetings since August. Among other things, Tower says the group has looked at relationships with the Southeast Regional Service Commission, the New Brunswick Housing Hub, and the New Brunswick Housing Corporation. “What would Tantramar look for from these groups, as well as how could they help support nonprofits and developers working within our boundaries?” asked Tower.
Tower said the group has been reviewing documents, plans and bylaws, and discussing particular items like the potential for tiny homes to provide housing. They’ve also discussed the potential for increased housing demand from the new Beal University program at the Sackville hospital and the planned construction of the Shepody Healing Centre at the Dorchester Penitentiary.
“We’re also looking at other municipalities and what they’re doing to support nonprofit and development within our capacity,” said Tower.
The group has discussed the need “for increased student housing options” in Tantramar, as well as knowledge of tenants rights, and issues and concerns in the local rental housing market. But on that issue Tower clarified, “it is noted that the Roundtable is not in a position to fix these issues, but to flag them.”
Black said one of the reasons that the existence of the roundtable has been under wraps until this week is that some members were sharing information they wanted to keep confidential. The group has members from Freshwinds Eco-Village Housing Co-operative, which was incorporated in June, and also Sackville and Area Housing, which has operated affordable housing units in Sackville for decades.
Black said members discussed potential developments that “may come forward or may not come forward,” and there was “sensitivity around that.”
“That’s why we haven’t spoken about it publicly,” said Black. “And I guess part of it is just the questions that might come up as well… Who’s on this? What are they talking about? And at that point, we weren’t really able to say anything, because it could have stymied that potential development.”
Black said the roundtable was modelled after the Mayor’s Roundtable on Climate Change which was originally hosted by former Sackville mayor John Higham. There are, however, some key differences. The climate change roundtable was created in April, 2019 when Sackville town council passed a multi-faceted motion in response to large youth climate protests held the previous month. So far, the Mayor’s roundtable on housing has not been sanctioned by Tantramar council, and its activities have been unknown publicly until this week.
Black told council that the roundtable would be reporting to council during monthly committee of the whole meetings in the foreseeable future.
