Fredericton Council Votes Against Contributing $900,000 To City Motel Project
FREDERICTON – In Monday evening’s City Council meeting, the council voted 6-5 against a motion to commit $900,000 to the project which would see the City Motel converted into apartments for homeless people.
Councilors stated they are in support of the project but the rushed introduction of the proposal, pressure from other levels of government, and lack of due diligence ultimately made council hesitant to move forward with the funding.
The vote was a last-minute addition to the meeting’s agenda 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 expires.
Following a lengthy debate, Councilors MacDermid, Mallet, Chase, Derrah, Keenan, and Hicks voted against the motion to provide the John Howard Society with the $900,000 grant, additional to $100,000 per year that Council had previously approved.
The Councillors voting against the motion were concerned with setting a precedent for funding and worried the pressure other levels of government placed on them would continue in the future.
“The sad fact is that the municipality is being coerced into stepping into an area of governance, affordable housing, which we haven’t been historically involved in because of the shortcomings and ineffective approach to housing and addressing mental health and addictions in our communities by the provincial and federal governments,” said Councilor John McDermid during the debate.
“This won’t be the last time this happens. There will be unintended consequences and I worry for the city’s future ability to deliver core services should we move forward on this.”
Some members of council argued the John Howard Society’s track record shows they are trustworthy and deserving of the funding.
“In my opinion, it’s best to give this organization the grant. They are a trusted partner, they have a very strong proven track record in our city, the John Howard Society runs other supportive care facilities extremely well,” said Councilor Kate Rogers, who also introduced the motion to council.
Those arguing in favour of passing the motion also argued that while it is not fair that the City is put in the situation they are in, they must take the issue of homelessness on instead of continuing to delay.
“The federal government has the funding, the provincial government has the jurisdiction, but the municipalities have the crisis,” said Councilor Eric Megarity, who voted in favour of the grant. “It comes down to this: it’s a festering wound and we’re putting band-aids on it. At the same time, we have to get to the root cause: addictions and mental health.”
“It’s ten minutes to twelve and there’s a problem here and we all have to admit we’re almost in a crisis situation with mental illnesses and addictions in this city.”
The City Motel conversion is expected 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 city’s vote comes on the heels of the province’s commitment of $1.4-million announced on Friday. In their news release on Friday, Social Development Minister Bruce Fitch said he was “hopeful” that the city of Fredericton would invest to become an equal partner.
Fredericton council’s decision to not back the project means the John Howard Society has reached another obstacle in reaching their funding goal of $4.1-million. According to a CBC story, after their funding request was rejected by the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation, the society needed to reach another $2.9-million before the end of the month when other stakeholder funding expires.
According to the resolution presented at council, if the funding were approved, the province would have contributed an additional $600,000 to fulfill the funding of the project.
“I sincerely hope that there’s a way this project can still be rescued,” said Mayor Mike O’Brien following the vote. “Whether it’s other people stepping up to the plate, or we get more information and can reconsider if we have to.”
“But, the decision that was made was a fair decision right around the table. Everyone put their heart on their sleeves and we’ll see what happens. The province really does have to play the major role in this and the federal government needs to provide the funding for it.”
Liam Floyd is a reporter for Huddle. Send him story suggestions: [email protected].