Housing for homeless people approved for Fredericton’s Forest Hill Road

Construction of transitional housing for homeless people is underway in a south-side Fredericton neighbourhood near the Princess Margaret Bridge.

Although the province has already decided to go ahead with what it described as an urgently needed project, it will seek community feedback next week.

“Because we know that we need to get these units in the community faster and we need to make sure that there are solutions beyond shelter living for the winter,” Housing Minister David Hickey told reporters at the legislature on Friday.

“The decision has already been made, and we're making sure that it's really clear that [residents] know that they can feel comfortable with what's going on in their neighbourhood.”

Details such as the size of the project, the number of units and how many people will live there, were not provided.

A news release said that the “inclusive community housing” will be staffed 24 hours a day, seven days a week and will include secure units, laundry, food service and social space. 

Hickey said the new units would be transitional housing, not a shelter, and the site at 334 Forest Hill Rd. was selected from about 20 possible sites in Fredericton.

The location is a small, formerly wooded lot that the province already owned, immediately next to the northbound onramp to the bridge.

Hickey said the province is in a crisis, and Fredericton has nearly 300 homeless people on the street as winter approaches. 

“We need to do it quickly and it needs to be done with the urgency that not only people on the street are expecting, but people in the community are expecting,” he said. 

A drop-in information session for the public will be held on Wednesday at the Forest Hill Elementary School gym.

Details and timelines of the project will be shared then, the release said.

The province and the city were not forthcoming with even vague information before the project was formally announced.

CBC News tried the province and the city more than a week ago for information about what was being done at the site, where there was a heavy presence of construction workers.