We are all feeling the rising cost of living — from groceries to gas and everything in between, New Brunswickers have had to work even harder to make ends meet.
While inflation is a global challenge, we have taken steps to help make life a little more affordable for you here, at home. This includes increases to the minimum wage and social assistance rates, a significant reduction in child-care fees, and the elimination of provincial student loan interest, among other initiatives.
We recognize that increased costs are impacting everyone differently. It is our hope that these additional supports can ease some of the pressure for those who need it most, when they need it most.
We've increased the Low-Income Seniors’ Benefit to $600 per year. This benefit is available to eligible seniors each year, with many using this support to supplement their income and to help with household expenses or other necessities.
We are giving students better access to healthy foods at school.
This year, through an expanded partnership with Food Depot Alimentaire, 135 schools across the province’s seven school districts will be supplied with healthy foods.
We are helping more students access post-secondary education by adjusting the maximum amounts available for eligible students under the New Brunswick Student Loan and the New Brunswick Bursary.
The maximum weekly amounts are being increased from $140 to $200 for the loan and from $130 to $160 for the bursary.
Last year, more than 13,000 students received the New Brunswick Loan and more than 4,000 received the New Brunswick Bursary.
We have eliminated the interest rate on provincial student loans to help ease the financial burden for current and future post-secondary students. As of November 1, 2022, students are no longer required to pay the interest on their provincial student loans.
While this does not apply to past borrowers, it will benefit 65,000 existing borrowers as well as future post-secondary students in the province. It is estimated that a borrower repaying a loan of $15,000 over 10 years will save about $4,500.
We have removed permanent residency as an eligibility requirement to the Parent Subsidy program. Removing this requirement will open the program to more people and help make child care more affordable and accessible for newcomers to the province.
The Parent Subsidy program provides financial support to low- and middle-income families, based on a sliding scale between $37,501 and $80,000. Expanding the program means more families will have access to high-quality, affordable child-care services.
We have taken an important step toward reducing child-care fees for New Brunswick families. The Canada-New Brunswick Canada-Wide Early Learning and Childcare Agreement will reduce the average out-of-pocket costs for full-day early learning and care by an average of 50 per cent.
This reduction is welcome relief to families of children aged five and under who attend designated child-care centres in the province. We know that access to affordable child care will make a big difference for many families. The goal is for child-care fees to be an average of $10 per day by 2025-26.
We have made changes to provide personal income tax relief for New Brunswick residents.
We recognize that the rising cost of living has impacted many New Brunswickers. Until June 30, 2024, eligible New Brunswick residents can apply for a one-time benefit of $300 to help offset financial pressures.
As of April 1, 2024, minimum wage earners in New Brunswick will earn $15.30 per hour, up from $14.75 in April 2023. This represents a 36 per cent increase in the minimum wage since 2019.
These wage increases are important and will help improve the standard of living for approximately 19,000 minimum wage earners in the province.
We have invested $5 million to help home support workers and family support workers with mileage costs associated with travel to their clients’ homes.
These workers play a key role in supporting clients in their homes so they can continue to live independently and safely.
More low-income working people will be eligible to apply for the Canada-New Brunswick Housing Benefit program. The program, which provides short term funding to help make ends meet, has been expanded to help single individuals who live alone and who have employment incomes between $12,500 and $50,000.
By further expanding the program to people living alone, an estimated 10,000 more residents are eligible.
The benefit is delivered directly to the household, not to the housing unit or landlord, so it can move with families to any other rental units in the province. This program will provide much-needed support for hard-working New Brunswickers and ensure they can have a higher quality of life.
Government provided financial relief to low-income individuals and families, including seniors, confronted with challenges due to the rising cost of living.
The Emergency Fuel and Food Benefit was first announced in June 2022, and $20.1 million was distributed to more than 69,000 households as one-time payments of $225 for low-income individuals and $450 for families, including seniors. The funds were distributed to existing Social Development clients who receive low income or housing benefits.
The program was later extended for a second round, with $22 million being distributed.
We are proud to help New Brunswickers in need during an extremely challenging time.
We have increased social assistance rates by of 3.6 per cent. This increase impacts the Transitional Assistance Program and the Extended Benefits Program, benefiting approximately 19,000 households.
We have made changes to social assistance benefits program which will:
- child support payments no longer counted as income
- increase the wage exemption to $500 (more than double what it was before)
- eliminate the shelter deduction for individuals living at home,
- expand the definition of deaf to increase access to services for hearing impaired people
- allow nurse practitioners to sign medical forms
- increase the social assistance rates annually based on inflation.
We launched the Rent Bank program to provide grants to help renters with expenses directly linked to staying housed.
Approved applicants can receive two months’ rent or up to $2,750, whichever is less, during the two-year program. The grants may be used toward rent, essential utilities, or a damage deposit. Those facing immediate eviction will be prioritized.
Those eligible include:
- Individuals or families, without children, whose income is less than $50,500
- Families, with children, whose income is less than $85,000
We are helping tenants adjust to the rising cost of housing and inflation being experienced in New Brunswick by:
- Extending the application period for the review of a rent increase from 30 to 60 days, and
- Giving authority to the Residential Tenancies Tribunal to phase in, over a period of up to three years, rent increases that are within market value for the condition and size of the unit as compared to similar units in the same building or neighborhood.
In addition, several permanent protections have also been put in place including:
- Limiting a rent increase to once every 12 months
- Requiring six months’ notice to increase rents
- Giving authority to the Residential Tenancies Tribunal to review and deny unreasonable rent increases
The newly released NB Housing Strategy: Housing for All includes a rent bank and direct financial assistance to tenants, just two of the new initiatives being taken to support people struggling to stay in their current home.
Initiatives under the plan are designed to work together to achieve four key housing targets:
- Increase housing starts with a target of 6,000 per year.
- Have no more than 15 per cent of New Brunswick households spend more than 30 per cent of income on shelter costs.
- Create conditions to hold annual rent increases at an average of 2.5 per cent and the percentage change in average home prices to 4.8 per cent.
- Decrease the number of households in need of subsidized housing to 7,500 by 2026 from the current waiting list of more than 11,000.
The federal and provincial governments provided $560,000 through the Affordable Rental Housing Program to help create 14 new affordable housing units in Fredericton. The housing projects receiving funding are targeting individuals experiencing homelessness and persons with disabilities.
The projects also involve rent supplements for the affordable housing units to ensure that tenants do not pay more than 30 per cent of their total household income in rent.