Kerry McCluskey
Northern News Services

Iqaluit (Aug 07/00) - Sitting around, moaning about shortages isn't her style.

Rather, Housing Minister Manitok Thompson prefers to jump into the thick of things and has come up with a third initiative to reduce the number of families waiting for public housing in Nunavut.

Beginning with the announcement that her department would build 100 new units across the territory this summer -- construction is slated to begin with the arrival of the sealift -- and continuing with her decision to carry on with a downpayment assistance program, Thompson has taken another stab at decreasing the number of people in need of housing.

As announced late last month, Thompson said she was turning to the private sector to see what was available because a phone-in survey showed there were as many as 100 homes sitting empty in Nunavut.

"One of our initiatives is to lease from the private sector because we keep hearing there are empty houses in communities," said Thompson.

With $1 million to spend on as many five-year leases as she can afford, Thompson said the next step is to wait and see who expressed an interest.

"We're asking if there's anything to lease and then we can talk dollars. It has to be affordable to the government," she said.

While the timeframe on the leases is short, Thompson said five years would give her department the time it needs to come up with a long-term strategy to address the public housing shortage.

"Right now, we have to put people in those homes and then we'll come up with a strategy," she said.

As for the Nunavut Downpayment Assistance Program, Thompson said it is off to a good start.

A one-time grant of $15,000, with a total budget of $630,000, the program aims to help 42 families purchase their own homes.

This in turn, should free up social housing units for the some 700 families who continue to wait.