How do you say "I have a new friend" in Japanese?
I remember when I was in Japanese class, we had to translate the phrase "new neighbors" into Japanese, and many of us translated it directly, but our teacher said it should be 新しく近所になった人 if I remember correctly. Is it the same for "new friends"?

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I don't think neighbour and friends are the same, like in English(well you can be a friend with your neighbour :) ). Your teacher is not wrong but that might be a bit too long...(Japanese people tend to say things as short as they can)
If you say "a new friend" in Japanese, it would become; 新しい友達
If it's a new neighbour, you would say; 新しいご近所さん or 新しく近所になった人

I hope this would help :)

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Hi Carl. That phrase that your teacher said sounds a bit odd. I would say, 新しいご近所さん、新しく近所に来た人 or something like that.
And I would say " I have a new friend", 新しい友だちができました、新しく友だちになりました or so, although it depends on the contexts.
Is it an answer of your question?