Saint John Affordable Housing Action Plan

Description

The Saint John Affordable Housing Action Plan is a two-year collaborative project between non-profit affordable housing partners, Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation, the Government of New Brunswick, and the City of Saint John. The Action Plan will identify the actions needed to guide the community’s response to maintain and create safe, suitable, and affordable housing options for all Saint John’s residents.

Every household should have access to housing that is affordable, adequate, and suitable to the household size, individual needs, and income. Affordability considers housing costs to a household’s total income. Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation defines affordable housing as housing that a single person or household can afford to rent or purchase without spending more than 30 percent of their before-tax income.

The housing market can be viewed as a continuum where the supply of housing responds to the range of housing needs in a community. Unfortunately, due to social, economic, and geographic factors, the full range of housing needs in a community is not always met in the private housing market. This is especially true for individuals and families with low incomes or for persons with unique housing needs. The housing needs of these groups are often met by non-market housing options provided by the public and non-profit sectors.

The Action Plan will address any gaps in the Saint John housing continuum related to supply and affordability. The strategic directions, policies, and actions in the implementation framework are expected to focus on the transitional and supportive housing, non-market rental housing, and low-end market rental components of the housing continuum, targeted to the priority groups in need.

The project has three key deliverables:

1. To develop a housing needs assessment using the latest statistical and demographic data
2. To develop an affordable housing action plan, informed data and stakeholder and community engagement, to address Saint John's affordable housing needs
3. To develop an implementation program that monitors the key performance indicators of the Action Plan

To develop an informed affordable housing action plan, a housing needs assessment is required. Unlike a traditional housing market study, the housing needs assessment will determine any gaps in the housing continuum. This is a specialized task requiring the assistance of professional consultants.

A Request for Proposals process was undertaken by the City’s Supply Chain Management. The RFP process closed on October 1, 2021. In October, the proposals of five interested firms where reviewed. On November 15, 2021, Common Council accepted the recommended proposal submitted by SHS Inc.

SHS Consulting and Re|fact Consulting are working together to provide the professional consulting services for this project, which includes the development of the project documents and the stakeholder and community engagement program supporting this initiative.