You guys can't have your cake and eat it too.
If you don't want to pay 450k for a condo (I don't blame you) then buy a house by Buccleuic Park. It's a lighter rental area and mostly filled with owner occupants who work in NB. Homes go from 250-400k there. You can't live in a prime location for a cheap price anywhere in America, so NB is no different.
As for renting, you can't complain that no one in New Brunswick is building sardine can sized apartments so you can live there for $500 a month. We have that already, that's the housing all over NB. If you want to pack in with other people then rent a 2 bedroom in the newest building on Somerset St. It's a 2 bedroom legal for 4 people at $2800. There you go. $700 per person just like the rare Hoboken apartment you keep citing, except this one is luxury and you will be on a train platform in 60 seconds, whereas the Hoboken apartment is likely a walk-up in a flood zone in a 100 year old brownstone.