Fredericton Council Approves $900,000 Provisional Grant For City Motel Project
FREDERICTON – In a special meeting on March 26, the city council approved provisional funding to the John Howard Society for $900,000 should they not receive necessary funding from other sources before the end of the month. The money would be used to fund the conversion of the City Motel into affordable housing and apartments for homeless people.
The money would become available to the John Howard Society should they not have sufficient funding for the project from elsewhere. The resolution also allows flexibility in the amount of funding with the option to decrease depending on other sources of funding.
Additionally, the resolution serves as a buy-in for the city, giving them the first right of refusal should the John Howard Society choose to sell the building in the future.
The council had previously voted against the funding in Monday evening’s council meeting but called a special meeting on Friday to reconsider following increasing public pressure and the John Howard Society’s impending end-of-month deadline.
“After Monday night’s vote, I said I really want to see if we can [address] some of the concern that was being raised and what we heard in the community,” said Mayor Mike O’Brien after the vote. “What we brought here tonight gives us a comfort level that we can move this great project forward and still have the security of taxpayers’ money. I’m really proud of the step we’ve taken here today.”
The proposal did not pass without mixed feelings from councilors. Councilors Kate Rogers and Eric Megarity expressed concern with some of the provisions of the proposal that state that funding that is not required be returned to the city.
“I’m aware that the motion says ‘could’ so it’s not a requirement [that the money be returned], but at the same time it doesn’t feel like the money is being offered in the spirit that I believe that it should be and I feel very uncomfortable with it,” said Rogers during the meeting.
Councilor Bruce Grandy noted the lack of due diligence of the decision, saying that he had not received any formal proposal from the John Howard Society.
“In all of these comments we’ve been getting on social media, we have to do due diligence. I have been saying all along that it is very difficult to give money away without a solid proposal,” said Councilor Grandy.
The final vote was 7-1 in favour of the motion. The vote against was cast by Deputy Mayor Steven Hicks. Councillors Eric Price, Stephen Chase, and John MacDermid were either absent or abstained from the vote.
In Monday’s meeting, council stated the province would commit another $600,000 in addition to the $1.4 million previously committed should the $900,000 grant motion pass. At this time, it is unclear whether the province is committing to the agreement with the new resolution. If they do, the project will reach its project cost of $4.1-million.
The project would see the motel on Regent Street convert to include 20 bachelor-style affordable housing units, 12 peer-supported housing units, a 24-bed emergency homeless shelter, meeting rooms, a restaurant, and clinical and outreach offices. Funding would also go towards purchasing the property.
The need for city funding came after the John Howard Society’s project’s application to the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation was rejected. This put the project in jeopardy and required them to quickly raise the funds by the end of the month before other stakeholder funding expired.
Liam Floyd is a reporter for Huddle. Send him story suggestions: [email protected].