A Saint John not-for-profit is facing added expenses for a construction project in the city’s Waterloo Village, but it is not due to inflation.
Steepleview Developments Inc. is constructing a $23-million, 56-unit mixed housing development on Cliff Street.
Twenty-eight of the units will be funded through a rental agreement with N.B. Housing. The project will also include a 120-space daycare centre, wellness gardens, and a community room.
President Kevin McDonald said they have been forced to hire overnight security due to an increase in crime.
“The theft of a generator, the cutting and removing of all power cords, and then it goes on from there to stolen tools, break and enter into vehicles on site,” McDonald said in an interview.
In another incident, McDonald said a construction worker at the site was sprayed with an irritant.
The security is expected to add between $150,000 and $200,000 to the project cost — something the not-for-profit was not budgeting for.
“Do we take flushes out? Do we take sinks out to pay for this? Because it is unbudgeted, it’s a fixed-price contract,” said McDonald.
“All we want is not to have an area where we require security. We want people to enjoy what we once enjoyed on that street.”
McDonald, on behalf of Steepleview, reached out to the mayor and council “to work together to change the landscape of Waterloo Village, particularly in the area of Cliff and Waterloo Streets.”
“Various agencies provided services to the street people in hopes of rectifying the situation. The opposite has taken place … all to the detriment of Steepleview,” said the letter.
“Steepleview did not create the situation within Waterloo Village. Just the opposite — we are hoping to be a part of the change in Waterloo Village. Unfortunately, we cannot accomplish this vision by ourselves.”
The letter was brought before council last Monday — the same day that council adopted a three-year homelessness strategy aimed at making homelessness “rare, brief and non-recurring” over the coming years.
Coun. Paula Radwan, who spoke on the letter, said she is “very, very, very concerned.”
“We need to be able to support the developers who are going to put affordable housing units on the market. Something has to be mitigated there,” said Radwan.
Council voted to forward the letter to the province’s public safety and social development ministers and Saint John’s police chief, as well as considering resources an action within the homelessness strategy.
