Housing will be the topic of conversation at Tantramar’s municipal office this Friday and Saturday, as the Mayor’s Roundtable on Housing hosts its first major event.
A Friday stakeholder session featuring provincial and federal agencies is not open to the public or the media, but Saturday’s session will include an open mic for residents to share their experiences and concerns, says Mayor Andrew Black. Saturday will also include presentations on student housing, planning rules, non-profit housing, co-op housing, and ageing in place.
Black says he’s hoping the sessions will help council understand the housing needs in the region.
“The problem that the mayor’s roundtable has is that it’s just, you know, a group of us that are operating somewhat in a vacuum,” says Black. “We want to make sure that what we’re talking about makes sense, so we decided to have this two-day housing event.”
Friday will be a “targeted stakeholder session,” says Black, with representatives from the New Brunswick Regional Development Corporation, the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation, developers, and mortgage specialists, all “sitting in a room talking about their organizations and the connections between municipalities and housing concerns.”
Though members of the public and media will not be permitted to observe the session, the municipality has hired a visual graphic recorder to document what’s said. “That information will be carried over into Saturday,” says Black, “which will help form the conversation that we have with the broader public.”
Saturday’s session ends with a plenary to bring together information from both days and come up with “next steps for the municipality,” says Black.
“Over the next couple of months the mayor’s roundtable will compile a lot of that data and see what next steps are,” says Black. “At the very least, I’m hopeful that we’ll hear from the public so that we can get a sense of broad and specific housing concerns within the municipality. So as a council, we can hear that.”
There’s no registration for Saturday’s event and all are invited. Snacks and refreshments will be provided.
