Council approves $115K grant for housing project

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A housing project nearing completion in Miramichi has been approved for an infusion of cash from the city for its affordable units and a refund of its building permit fee.

City council voted unanimously Tuesday to give $115,000 from the affordable housing incentive program to local developer Jesse Tucker of the numbered company 724007 NB Limited for the 21-unit apartment complex he’s building at 344 Wellington St., in the former town of Chatham.

The grant will subsidize 10 affordable units in the building at $10,000 apiece and reimburse Tucker for his $15,000 building permit.

In a report presented to council, city manager Mike Noel said the project didn’t qualify for the affordable housing incentive at first because it wasn’t submitted before construction began in 2022 and the original plan didn’t include any subsidized rentals.

“During construction, the company reached an agreement with the provincial government for 10 apartments to be affordable housing units,” he said in his report.

Noel said Tucker asked the city for $10,000 per affordable housing unit and a refund of the building permit fee after committing to affordable units and starting construction on the complex at the old Brown’s Takeout site and Rocket Nova at the corner of Wellington and Dan Cripps Street. The structure is one of two 21-unit apartment buildings erected by Tucker on the property.

Noel said the company meets most of the incentive program’s criteria, except for the city’s funding commitment needing to be secured before shovels hit the ground.

“The company is requesting that the city provide financial support to it, similar to what would have been available if it had originally committed to affordable housing, which works out to $100,000 for the 10 units and $15,500 for the building permit,” Noel said in his report.

“The municipality has encouraged the construction of affordable housing units to address the ever-growing need for such apartments. Although funding cannot be provided under the current municipal support program, council may wish to grant the request to reflect the addition of these much-needed units to our housing inventory.”

During the March 26 council-in-committee meeting, Mayor Adam Lordon said he supported giving Tucker the grant from the incentive program.

“We know that building affordable housing is difficult in any community, not just ours,” he said. “Knowing this developer and that there are other projects he’s working on in the community, it’s an investment in continued development of more affordable housing units. That’s what we want to see.”