Northern News Services

Iqaluit (Sept 03/01) - The federal government is expected to spend $677,000 to build homes for the homeless in the territory's capital.

Word of the funding came last week.

"From our point of view, this is a great start," said Rick Butler, Iqaluit's chief administrative officer.

"Certainly no one here is complaining."

The money, from Human Resources Development Canada, would fund eight projects. They range from establishing safe havens for children, providing transitional shelter for battered women, and creating traditional housing.

Mary Jane Adamson, HRDC Director for Nunavut, said the funding was available under the department's Supporting Community Partnerships Initiative. She added that the city's proposals have, "been sent to Ottawa for approval, but the money hasn't been transferred over yet."

Butler says that trying to define homelessness in Iqaluit is, "a big challenge. It's not necessarily people out on the street, but often people in either very poor housing or overcrowded housing."

Between December 1999 and November 2000, the City's homeless shelter was visited more than 4,400 times by 70 different individuals.

In the previous one-year period, the shelter was accessed 2,660 times.

The city has a few more hoops to jump through before the cheque is in the bank. Adamson said Iqaluit has to either create a community entity responsible for administering the funds, or agree to let HRDC administer the money.

Final approval is expected to take between "six to eight weeks."