JBS Food Canada plant near Brooks, Alta. (CHAT News photo Ross Lavigne)

By Brendan Miller

Housing shortage in Brooks as JBS plant looks to hire hundreds of foreign workers

May 12, 2023 | 11:48 AM

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

But city officials in Brooks 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 that’s not enough to keep up with the current demand. Ensuring the 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.”

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Brooks Mayor John Petrie says 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.”

On the city’s north side, the Wellings Brooks development is currently under construction. It will be a seniors facility of 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 says some out-of-town developers have also expressed interest in building new apartment buildings downtown that would add around 150 more units.

But right now the lack of housing is also having a big financial impact. Idriss says the situation is so bad 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.

Petrie says the province is on track to attract more than one million people over the next 10 years. But he says 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 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.