JBS Foods Canada said it plans to hire more workers in Brooks, but a lack of housing is making it difficult to attract labour, May 12, 2023. (Photo: CHAT News Today)

By Brendan Miller

Agriculture

JBS to hire hundreds in Brooks, housing shortage hinders plans

May 17, 2023 | 3:05 PM

BROOKS, AB – In April 2023, the largest employer in Brooks, JBS Canada Foods, informed economic development officials they want to bring in an additional 300 foreign workers to staff its meat processing plant.

City officials in Brooks, however, say they are facing a housing crisis and are now working on solutions to attract more home developers to the community.

JBS employs around 2,800 temporary and full-time workers, but the company said it is not enough to keep up with the current demand. Ensuring that new workers have a place to live is a significant challenge due to a lack of housing.

Mohammed Idriss, service manager with Brooks and County Immigration Services, says some employees coming to work at the plant are having to stay in hotels.

“We are in a place now where, sometimes, people are taking months, two months, three months to find a place to live in Brooks,” said Idriss.

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Brooks Mayor John Petrie explains that more housing units are needed and council is working on incentives, including tax breaks, to encourage developers to start construction.

“As council, we were working trying to address that in order to solve those problems so we can bring people here because we need economic development and we need people in this community here, because the more people you have, it lowers the tax base,” said Petrie.

On the city’s north side, the Wellings Brooks development is currently under construction. It will be a seniors facility with around 145 units. The hope is that seniors will move into this facility, which will free up more vacant spaces for workers around Brooks.

Petrie said some out-of-town developers have also expressed interest in building new apartment buildings downtown that would add around 150 more units.

Right now, the lack of housing is also having a big financial impact. Idriss said the situation is so bad that some renters are willing to pay above the monthly rent just to ensure they have accommodation.

“Housing in Brooks has certainly become a big issue, not only for temporary foreign workers but also for people who are trying to make Brooks home on a permanent basis,” said Petrie.

He adds that the province is on track to attract more than one million people over the next 10 years, but it will be hard for communities in southeast Alberta to attract people to move here if they don’t have a place to live.

“I would love to see a lot of those people come into southeast Alberta, whether it be Brooks or Medicine Hat, but we need help in infrastructure. We have an infrastructure deficit here and I don’t care which government is in power, it’s an investment for the future,” explains Petrie.

Petrie hopes that Alberta’s next government will be able to work with Brooks to develop more housing and much-needed infrastructure to keep up with the city’s growing demand.