NUNAVUT
Sonny Natanine said she was not surprised to learn approximately 40 per cent of the houses in Clyde River have been deemed to be inadequate, according to the Nunavut Housing Needs Survey released Oct. 29 in the legislative assembly.

"I think there are too many old houses and it takes forever to build a new one," said Natanine, the acting tenant relations officer with the Clyde River Housing Association.

Natanine said there is a long list of people waiting for housing.

"For some people it takes more than 10 years to find a home," she said.

Currently, all the homes in the community are full and one is being renovated.

While Natanine said she and residents are happy houses are being built, many of them usually only have two or three bedrooms when what they really need are homes with three or four bedrooms.

The problems with housing are not isolated to Clyde River as about half the homes in the territory are in need of repair or are overcrowded, said the survey.

A home is said to be in need of a major repair if it has defective plumbing or electrical wiring, a leaking oil or sewage tank or a broken hot water boiler.

The Nunavut Housing Corporation worked with Statistics Canada and the Nunavut Bureau of Statistics to complete the first comprehensive survey of the territory's needs by going door-to-door to find out the extent of overcrowding and the adequacy of housing.

Data was collected in all 25 communities from November 2009 to June 2010 with more than 8,500 dwellings responding.

The information will be used by the territory and the communities to plan for construction and renovation of homes and lobby the federal government for money for housing.

"The findings of the survey reveal that Nunavut is indeed facing an acute housing crisis," said Housing Minister Tagak Curley to members of the assembly on Oct. 29.

The survey found 35 per cent of homes in Nunavut are overcrowded and 23 per cent are in need of major repair. More than half the homes surveyed were public housing units.

Three communities topped the list as having above-average percentages of inadequate homes in need of major repairs: Hall Beach with 62 per cent, Chesterfield Inlet with 43 per cent and Clyde River with 40 per cent.

Iqaluit, Resolute and Kimmirut are the three communities with the lowest percentages of housing issues - either houses are in poor repair or overcrowded.

The survey also discovered approximately four per cent of Nunavummiut - 1,220 people - are homeless and "couchsurfing," living temporarily in the homes of others.

"This survey will assist the Nunavut Housing Corporation to address in a comprehensive manner the major issues of overcrowding and the hidden homeless that continue to hinder Nunavut's development," Curley said.

Alain Barriault, president of the Nunavut Housing Corporation, said this information will be used to help develop the GN's Homelessness Strategy.

"We really had no concrete numbers in that area," he said.

When the survey asked if they would wish to move if more housing was available, 3,580 groups responded by saying they would want to move out of their current housing.

There is still more information being tabulated by Statistics Canada and the Nunavut Bureau of Statistics and the Nunavut Housing Corporation.

"It will be released before the end of the year," said Stephanie Langlois, survey manager with the Nunavut Bureau of Statistics in Pangnirtung.

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