A non-profit group hoping to offer 125 affordable housing units in Moncton withing the next three years is one step closer to buying its first property.

After previously agreeing to support the Rising Tide Community Initiatives group, the city is signing its first cheque. Councillors agreed to release the first installment of municipal funding at a city council meeting Monday.

Dale Hicks, a co-founder and board member of Rising Tide, says he expects to receive $2 million in funding from the city within the “next week or so.”

On Nov. 2, 2020, city councillors decided to support the project to the tune of $6-million over three years with some conditions.

“We’re looking at a couple properties right now, now that we know the money is going to be transferred here shortly,” he says. “We will probably go out and buy a property or two just to get started.

“We were only going to purchase maybe three to four properties in year one and maybe try to house 25 people.”

But Hicks says if a federal funding request is approved, “it gives us a totally different focus” because that money would have to be spent within 12 months.

He says they’re hoping to have an answer to their federal request before the end of March. Rising Tide submitted a $6-million funding application through the Rapid Housing Initiative.

“We’re actually in a bit of a holding pattern,” Hicks says. “That will kind of determine which direction or which road we’re going down over the next little while.”

Rising Tide plans to buy and fix up properties when need be, to obtain its housing stock.

When asked what type of properties are being considered, Hicks says “we’re looking at some properties that could house 6-8 people.” Land zoning has been a challenge when dealing with multi-unit buildings.

The properties the group is seeking “may require a little bit of upgrade in terms of TLC, nothing serious, but maybe putting a wall up here and putting a door there, and putting a bathroom here,” Hicks says.