Moncton not building apartments fast enough: developer

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Property developers in Metro Moncton are not putting up apartment buildings fast enough to keep up with demand because of property taxes and other financial issues, developer Bill Hennessey told city council Monday.

In a presentation to council on behalf of the Chamber of Commerce for Greater Moncton, Hennessey said the housing crisis is being made worse by high property taxes and New Brunswick’s “double tax” on non owner-occupied buildings.

Hennessey said Greater Moncton’s population grew by over 15,000 in 2023, and the growth has resulted in a need for over 6,000 new units. Despite the rapid construction, there is still a shortfall of more than 3,700 units.

“Not only do we have a crisis, it’s getting worse,” he told council.

Moncton has been in the midst of a building boom over the last several years with record high numbers of building permits and new apartment buildings rising all over the city. Apartment buildings are financed and constructed by private-owned and/or publicly-traded companies and paid for by the monthly rents. One of the commonly asked questions in Moncton is whether average workers would be able to afford an apartment in one of the many new buildings. But Hennessey said developers are worried that the buildings are not commercially viable because of high property tax, along with other costs that continue to rise because of inflation.

“Unfortunately, the tenants are the ones paying all the property tax. If you are renting a two-bedroom apartment, you are paying $515 per month in property tax, where in Halifax you would be paying $236. The rates here in Moncton are more than double the national average. You’re paying 44 per cent more than if you owned your own home,” he said. “Owners have to put the rents higher in order to cover the property tax.”

Hennessey said Moncton is not keeping up with other cities like Halifax or Charlottetown, and predicts that many people who have come here will leave in search of a more affordable place to live.

“Once the population growth stops, this all stops,” he predicted. “Now is the time when we need to put up as many buildings as we can, which will provide a ton of property tax over the next 50 years. But the demand stops, all the development stops.”

His suggestion is to bring property tax rates down. Property tax is collected by the province and is the main source of revenue for Moncton to provide all the services in a $212-million budget.

Mayor Dawn Arnold said the topic of housing is ever-present and the city is always looking at ways to increase the number of housing units to keep up with the demands of population growth. The city is receiving $15-million from the federal government’s Housing Accelerator Fund and is looking at ways to cut red tape to speed up the process. Besides the private developers, the Rising Tide community initiative is creating more affordable housing units in conjunction with non-profit agencies.

“Everything that we are doing right now, whether it is our urban growth strategy or our municipal plan, it is about building more and more housing in our community,” Arnold said. “We need to give our developers more tools to get more housing built.”

• Monday’s council meeting started a few minutes late because the elevator carrying Mayor Arnold from her office on the upper level of city hall got stuck at the second floor. The meeting was also momentarily interrupted when an unidentified man stood up and started yelling and shaking his fist at councillors. The man was escorted out of the council chambers.

• Suzanne Trites, New Brunswick’ representative of the International Christian Embassy in Jerusalem, made a presentation to mark Holocaust Remembrance Day. She said not only did six million Jewish people die as a result of the Holocaust during the Second World War, but thousands of Jewish communities were also devastated. Holocaust Remembrance Day ceremonies were held around the world with the promise of “Never Again.”

• A public hearing was set for June 3 for the proposed rezoning of a property at 166 MacBeath Avenue, across from The Moncton Hospital. The single-storey house has been donated by owner Sheila Bannon  to the Friends of the Moncton Hospital Foundation for use as a cancer treatment centre, but the property must be rezoned from R2 (two-unit dwelling) to P1 (community use). Bill Budd, the city’s director of planning, said the foundation has partnered with Wellspring Cancer Support Foundation to provide non-medical support services to individuals affected by cancer, including financial counselling, art therapy, group support sessions, exercise classes and other activities. The proposed facility would be called Bannon House.

• A public hearing was set for June 17 for an application to extend the city’s urban boundary to create Phase 2 of the Moncton Industrial Park West. The proposed new industrial park will provide approximately 40-50 new lots for businesses. Budd said the park was designed to minimize impact on existing wetlands. Approximately 40 hectares of wetland will be retained while approximately 9.7 hectares of wetland will be lost. The plan includes new streets and multi-use trails.

• Council approved tenders of over $2 million for asphalt and concrete patching of various streets throughout the city.