Sackville developer John Lafford addressing Tantramar council last year seeking approval of the six-storey apartment bldg. he is currently building in downtown Sackville
Prominent local developer John Lafford is urging Tantramar Town Council to support construction of a big, non-profit housing co-op near the Sackville Golf Course.
“With such a high demand for housing, it’s great to see that Freshwinds is taking initiative to help provide a home for those in our community,” Lafford says in a letter addressed to the mayor and council.
He was referring to plans by Freshwinds Eco-Village, a local, non-profit housing co-op, to build up to 60 housing units on about 19 acres of serviced land off Fairfield Road.
“By providing infrastructure support to Freshwinds it would help Sackville’s demand for affordable housing,” Lafford’s letter says.
“We look forward to seeing this project developed and this support would allow them to begin that process.”
Sabine Dietz and Eric Tusz-King, co-chairs of the Freshwinds housing co-op, mentioned Lafford’s letter Tuesday night as they asked Tantramar council for help in securing the federal and provincial money they would need to build 40-60, one-to-four bedroom housing units near 64 Fairfield Road.
They said at least one quarter of them would be subsidized, rent-geared-to income units with money-saving, environmentally friendly features such as solar panels and energy-efficient heating.
Municipal help
“We’re going to ask the assistance of the municipality to provide [water and sewage] services into the lot,” Tusz-King told council.
“That usually is a cost that is the developer’s, but we’re not a private developer,” he said.
“There are funds available to assist municipalities to do that at very low cost to the municipality.”
Tusz-King and Dietz explained that Tantramar could apply to the multi-billion dollar federal housing accelerator fund that is designed to help local governments encourage the development of affordable housing.
Eric Tusz-King & Sabine Dietz making their presentation to Tantramar Council Tuesday night
But first, he said, Tantramar needs a formal housing needs assessment from the Southeast Regional Service Commission.
“We’ve been promised that by the Regional Service Commission since last September,” Tusz-King said, adding that so far, it hasn’t been provided.
He suggested that Tantramar could push for one.
Later during an interview, Dietz and Tusz-King said they’re hoping to break ground on their Freshwinds project this fall with the first occupants moving in possibly by the fall of 2025.
They said they’re not asking the town for money, but emphasized its support would be crucial in securing federal and provincial grants and loans.
“There is no way a non-profit housing development such as ours can be financially feasible without all of that support that currently, in a window of time, is available,” Dietz said.
Political urgency
She added with a federal election looming in 2025, Freshwinds needs to push ahead aggressively with grant and loan applications while a housing-friendly Liberal government is still in power supported by the NDP.
She said affordable housing is linked to poverty and homelessness, adding these are not usually social issues that Conservatives push.
“We as an organization need to make sure that we take advantage of everything that’s currently available,” she said, “so that we don’t run into a half-finished development and all the funding dries up because some political master thinks that we’re done with housing, that we don’t need affordable housing,” she said.
For previous coverage of the Freshwinds co-op, click here.
It would be nice if town council put some effort into plans to build the economy. Affordable housing is great, but where are all these people supposed to work? They’ll still have high expenses paying for gas to commute somewhere else – or travel to purchase what they need because no businesses have been encouraged to come here. Seems like this is half a plan – oh, but previous councils spent tons of money on a multi-page growth plan several years ago that they keep saying they are “working on.”
Towns cannot build an economy. They are at the bottom of the ladder, compared to provincial and federal levels of government. Towns also cannot legislate how private enterprises can operate. Providing housing is something that our town can support. The affordable housing initiative in Fredericton is an example of a partnership that puts people in homes https://www.12neighbours.com/
This cooperative non-profit housing project is a step in the right direction. We should not squander it.
Towns do have powers that affect the operation of businesses:
https://www.chmafm.com/welcome/in-attempt-to-lift-restrictions-council-repeals-bylaw-that-allowed-for-sunday-shopping-in-sackville/
Towns also control business zoning, and provide tax breaks to businesses, such as the million dollar tax break recently granted to the new Lafford building.
Would Lafford be as supportive of affordable housing if it was being built on a lot downtown where he’d prefer to build housing instead of on the edge of town, or if the town required new buildings such as his to include a percentage of affordable units?
How incredibly sad Harold that you should be an advocated for people living in essentially a small garden shed dwelling and you call that a step in the right direction. You are – thankfully – not an influencer in the Town .. non-profit is a strange term.. people do profit and people are making money in these schemes but its another one of those scenarios where they have to take advantage of others’ good will to do so with volunteers [free labour] and ‘grant money’ [grifting]. The non-profit model seems to be popular in this town which would explain why the economy does not boom here but rather is a slow hiss [like the sound of air leaving a balloon]. Time for some fresh thinking and new energy around housing — perhaps advocating for financial incentives [tax break, speed up permitting] for builders to develop single family home properties since we seem to have a lot of building lots available.
Eco Village in the countryside… sounds utopian to me folks.. what could possibly go wrong with this project? Eric says they do not make any money… to me this is odd… aren’t you supposed to make money Eric? Is making money a bad thing in creating housing? If so.. why? I’d like to see more homes developed too.. just not this model.