Chipman Works To Alleviate Housing Shortage

As many people leave rural communities for urban centres, the village of Chipman is bucking the trend.

A new housing development is being built to provide much-needed homes for people moving there for work.

“We don’t have much for housing and our housing stock is insufficient to meet the labour demands that exist locally,” said Carson Atkinson, the village’s mayor.

Planning for the development started about 18 months ago, Atkinson said. It is located on an eight-acre property off Main Street.

The development has room for 12 units. Five are currently being rented out for around $800 each.

“In addition to that site, we acquired 49 acres around it which gives us the opportunity to offer housing sites for people that we would give away if they would build on them,” Atkinson said.

The municipal housing development is publicly owned by the Chipman Housing Authority, which Atkinson said operates separately from the village.

Located about an hour east of Fredericton, Atkinson said Chipman has lots of potential and good-paying jobs but needs a suitable housing stock to attract people.

“We are attempting to market our community because of our recreational potential, access to the lake, our river systems, the hunting potential, all of the four-wheeling activities, the snowmobiling, boating, and all of those kinds of things,” he said.

The provincial and federal governments are investing a combined $906,000 to help develop water, sewer and road infrastructure for the housing development.