Telegraph Journal: ‘I’m honestly worried’: Mom of two on housing waitlist for five years

Deborah Nowlan has spent years on the public housing waitlist in Riverview where there are only 16 units

Deborah Nowlan has spent years on the public housing waitlist, but with only 16 NB housing units available in her community, finding a place on her own meant choosing between what she describes as either unsafe or unaffordable.

In 2017, Nowlan moved into what she considered an affordable rental with her son in Riverview, but just over a year later, when she was pregnant with her daughter, she began to notice mould growing on the wall behind her bed.

Over the years, she said the landlord would come and wash the walls with bleach but the mould continued to pop up. She worried it was affecting her children’s health.

“We have running, stuffy noses. My son has started making weird sounds to clear his throat because it’s itchy, and my daughter constantly has ear infections,” she said in an interview last month.

She said the mould still wasn’t being properly cleaned last month after she contacted the Rentalsman, so she was faced with a tough choice. Nowlan decided to leave the apartment.

Nowlan’s former landlord, Peter LeBlanc, said he advised her not to “leave so many articles and items up against the wall in order for it to breathe.” He said in an interview that the mould was taken care of in an orderly fashion.

In March, Nowlan moved into an apartment that cost $500 more a month plus utilities.

“I’m honestly worried greatly about what my first power bill could look like,” she said.

Peter Jongeneelen, co–chair of the tenants’ rights group New Brunswick ACORN, said stories like Nowlan’s are all too familiar. “We’ve done a lot of outreach on stuff like this,” he said in an interview.

“I’ve heard of people going through the same kind of situation who can’t find anything they can afford so they wind up in a homeless shelter.”

What’s needed is “deeply affordable” housing, said Jongeneelen. NB ACORN defines ‘affordable’ as 30 per cent of a person’s income, including people earning minimum wage.

At the national level, ACORN is calling for 50,000 affordable housing units to be built across the province.

“We’ve got to do something because the housing problem, not just in Moncton, but across the province is doing nothing but growing,” said Jongeneelen.

Nowlan said she’s been on the waitlist for housing for more than five years. When she asks where she is on the list, she said the province couldn’t give her an answer because it is based on priority.

Kate Wright, spokesperson for the Department of Social Development, said as of Feb.1, there were 11,950 households on the waiting list for public housing in New Brunswick.

Along with public housing, Wright said the province also offers other aids, including rent supplement programs. Last year, Nowlan said she began receiving a rent subsidy through the province, but she worries it won’t be enough to help cover the costs of her new apartment.

From 2023 to 2024, Wright said Housing New Brunswick was able to secure new housing options for individuals from 1,307 different households on the waitlist and from April 2024 to February 2025, they housed individuals from 866 different households from the waitlist.

Wright said there are 3,863 public housing units across the province and work is underway on 141 public housing units at 16 sites. She said planning is underway for another 40 units in the 2025-26 fiscal year.

********
Article by Payge Woodard for Telegraph Journal