Kerry McCluskey
Northern News Services

IQALUIT (Sep 20/99) - While housing units continue to pop up on almost every undeveloped piece of tundra in Iqaluit, there still isn't enough room at the proverbial inn.

Unless of course, your employer happens to be the Government of Nunavut.

"To date, we've been successful in housing everybody that's come across our desks," said Lorne Veters, the GN's commercial and residential property manager.

Responsible for 818 housing units in Nunavut, approximately 360 of which are in Iqaluit, Veters said he actually had 25 vacant units waiting to be filled by yet-to-be-hired government employees.

While he admitted that the GN wasn't crunching such comfortable numbers in outlying settlements, Veters noted that the government was, so far, able to adjust their hiring practices so that more employees than they were able to house didn't come on staff.

However, the situation in most of the other sectors of the housing realm isn't nearly as rosy.

Urbco Inc., one of the biggest developers in Nunavut, reported that despite the 120 units they'd put up in 1999, they were still unable to provide enough housing for Iqaluit's population or for the residents in the four other communities in which they have properties -- Pangnirtung, Pond Inlet, Cape Dorset and Arctic Bay.

"We probably have somewhere in the neighbourhood of five to 10 per cent less than what we need. That's overall," said Elizabeth Pinter, Urbco's property manager.

The shortage, which began to hit Iqaluit hard about 16 months ago, was so drastic Pinter said, that the executive suites hotel they're currently building in the capital would have to be used to provide some long-term housing.

John Matthews, the owner of Atiilu Real Estate and Property Management, said that while the shortage had pushed and kept housing prices 15 per cent higher than those seen in 1998, the situation in the buying and selling game had improved since last fall, resulting in more units on the market.

But, when it comes to renting one of his units, good luck.

"I have the odd unit that is available, but usually it's snatched up before I even learn that it's going to become available. Just by word of mouth, someone will know the person is leaving. It's just very tight," said Matthews.