Dominating the Nunavut Association of Municipalities (NAM) conference in Iqaluit, held Nov. 4-7, was a topic that is always at the forefront of people’s minds in the territory: housing, or lack thereof.
With a panel of housing-related organizations in the territory represented, the flow of information was abundant, as was the emphasized message to Nunavummiut about available support for any number of housing-related issues.
The “$64-million question” about whether Nunavut Tunngavik Incorporated (NTI) will provide funding for the Nunavut 3000 housing program was answered.
“I’m going to put this one to rest,” said Tim Brown, NTI's assistant director of policy and planning. “NTI is working in common with Nunavut 3000. What we’re proposing is anything but public housing. Essentially... NTI and regional Inuit associations live off the interest of the Nunavut Trust. So there’s basically a lot of money available for housing and all the rest of the [housing] programs. The money that we are talking about is coming from the federal government. We’re looking at $422 million out of an $845 million Nunavut housing allocation in Budget 2022.
“This is the first time we’ve had any housing funding [from the federal government], and we don’t know if we’re going to get anymore, so we’ve had a number of challenges associated with that. It’s one of the main reasons we can’t afford a program... like public housing... that is unsustainable for the organizations," he added.
Brown said NTI allocated 67 per cent of the $422-million towards affordable housing in 2023 and 30 per cent towards supportive housing. The final three per cent went to home ownership and capacity development.
"So when we’re talking about what we’re going to build for affordable housing, it’s going to be $286-million worth, and our challenge is right now... how do we do the most we can with that amount of money," he said.
“However, a saying we have: ‘We’re not looking to build the cheapest of housing, we’re looking to build housing that suits lifestyles and is going to fill a gap of housing that’s non-existent right now.’ That major gap is affordable rental housing, that is not connected to your employer."
Taloyoak Mayor Lenny Aqigiaq Panigayak expressed concerns that confront small communities. He explained that just the week before, after conversations with his wife about buying a house, he attempted to find supports for housing by calling a housing authority line, only to be told that a program that would have granted him some funds to build a house, which he had been unaware of, had recently ended.
“In order for [support] to happen, Nunavummiut need to come together as a group and say here’s the support that an average person can go to, and they can get their house built with that Nunavut 3000 plan. Because a lot of people, they don’t have any idea how we can own our own house, how we can start," said Panigayak.
“I have heard so many times in my hometown that people are trying to buy their own house, but [in Taloyoak], we’re on the west, away from Iqaluit. And to get to Iqaluit takes two days. So it seems that there’s a disconnect between people that are farther away to you guys. So we do need to find a way where we can get support, not just Taloyoak, but all of Nunavut," he continued.
Panigayak also spoke of the challenges facing Taloyoak specifically.
“It’s good to hear that there’s a lot of support here to build houses, but there’s a disconnect between you guys [in Iqaluit] and the rest of Nunavut. So we need to build something together..." the mayor said. "Let’s create support for Nunavut. It’s great to hear about Nunavut 3000 — it’s a good dream. But are some communities going to be left out, because in the past, Taloyoak was left out for seven years for public housing.
“So we are already overcrowded in the community. I don’t know why, but I feel that Taloyoak is always the last community in things that come out for the government. So I really do need to voice out our concerns, from Nunavut, from the average person.
