Social issues

All three levels of government work together to address social issues.

Federal responsibilities 

• Family policies
• Poverty reduction

Provincial responsibilities 

• Mental health 
• Addictions 
• Housing
• Justice and public safety 
• Social assistance 
• Health care

Municipal responsibilities 

• Police and fire services
• By-law enforcement
   

The City of Moncton spends approximately $5 million each year on social issues. 

Here are some of the ways the City is supporting finding solutions. 

• $1.2 million per year in social grants
• Leased a municipal facility to the provincial government to house the Bridge to Home Hub on St-George St.
• $6 million to assist Rising Tide in building 125 supportive housing units
• $310,000 to support the Humanity Project’s JOSH project, which helped to build 20 tiny homes (supportive housing)
• $100,000 to update the City’s Social Inclusion Plan
• approximately $500,000 each year for community remediation, encampment, and social issues clean ups 
• $400,000 per year partnership with Downtown Moncton Centre-ville Inc. to support the ENVIRO Team, which cleaned up more than 84,000 kg (186,000 lbs) of garbage in the downtown in 2024
• hired 20 community officers 
• established a Protective Services service area to lead and coordinate safety efforts 
• hired a full-time director of by-law to oversee compliance and community standards
• hired 17 new police officers in 2025 to support frontline services at Codiac RCMP
• building collaborative partnerships between community policing, by-law enforcement, and community groups to ensure a unified approach to social issues and public safety
• invested in surveillance cameras and infrastructure to improve monitoring and deterrence
• integrated Crime Prevention Through Environmental Design (CPTED) principles in the planning of streets and public spaces
• continued investment in Fire Services to maintain rapid response and community protection
• implemented a formal Encampment Response Protocol that outlines the City's position and procedures for managing encampments

Community officers patrol downtown Moncton 24 hours a day, seven days a week, providing a uniformed presence. The officers also respond to calls for service across the city.

Calls for service

Community officers collected 181,501 kg of waste in 2023, 140,830 kg of waste in 2024, and 100,490 kg in 2025. 

Social issue-related calls significantly outrank any other type of calls to community officers.

The City of Moncton began to see a significant increase in the number of people experiencing homelessness around 2017.

Three key factors are housing, affordability, and health.

Housing

• From 2020 to 2024 rent rose by 34.7 per cent in New Brunswick.
• Moncton’s vacancy rate was around 1.5 per cent for several years, though is rose to 3.9 per cent as of October 2025. 
• Only 0.3 per cent of units in Moncton cost in the $750 to $999 range.
• Home prices doubled over the past five years.
• Moncton’s population grew by 22 per cent (18,000+), while the housing stock grew by about 5,000 units

Affordability

• 22 per cent increase in the cost of food from 2021 to 2024
• 25 per cent increase in the cost of gas from 2021 to 2024
• 45 per cent increase in the number of food bank visits in New Brunswick from 2019 to 2024
• 46 per cent of workers in New Brunswick earn less than the provincial living wage of $24.62 (2024)

Health

• Very good or excellent perceived mental health in New Brunswick dropped from 62 per cent (2019) to 48 per cent (2023)
• Very good or perceived health also dropped from 51 per cent (2019) to 42 per cent (2023)
• Patients waited 27.9 weeks longer for treatment in 2024 compared to 2021
• The percentage of New Brunswickers with access to a primary care provider dropped from 93 per cent in 2017 to 79 per cent in 2023
• Over a nine-month period in 2019, naloxone was administered to 188 suspected opioid overdose patients. Over the same period in 2023, naloxone was administered 506 times.

Each year Moncton participates in a point-in-time (PIT) count, which counts the number of people experiencing homelessness in each participating community across the country all on the same night.

The most recent PIT count figures are from Nov. 20, 2024. It found:

• 507 people experiencing homelessness in Moncton, including those in transitional housing or couch surfing
• 56 per cent were staying the night in a shelter
• 14 per cent were staying outside unsheltered
• 12 per cent were staying in an encampment
• 72 per cent had experiencing homelessness for at least half the previous year
• 27 per cent had completed some or all of post-secondary education
• 28 per cent had been in foster care or a group home – 36 per cent of those said they were homeless within a year of leaving care; 15 per cent were homeless within a week
• 21 per cent were under 18 the first time they experienced homelessness
• 51 per cent required mental health services
• 43 per cent required addiction services
• 23 per cent had a physical disability

The 2025 PIT count took place Nov. 19, 2025. The findings will be posted once they are received.

Statistics

While existing supports are helping a significant number of people, each month more people are entering homelessness than being housed in the Moncton area and the total number of people experiencing homelessness continues to grow. 

The Human Development Council maintains a monthly dashboard tracking homelessness in our community. 

View the dashboard

We all have a role to play in making a difference in our community. 

Individuals and businesses can help by:

• Using the City's Report an issue form to let us know about discarded needles and shopping carts, garbage, graffitti, encampments, unsightly premises, and other issues.
• Reporting crimes to the Codiac RCMP.
• Volunteering or financially supporting a front-line agency.
• Using Crime Prevention Through Environmental Design (CPTED) principles to help make your property more secure and less vulnerable to break-ins or vandalism.