Gjoa Haven (Apr 11/05) - No jobs will be lost at the local housing association in Gjoa Haven now that the hamlet no longer controls it, officials say.
"In fact we are going to be hiring more employees down the road as we settle down," said Helen Tungilik, the new manager of the Kikitak Housing Association, which will control public housing in the community. "We are looking at getting an assistant manager and we're hoping to get maintenance helpers down the road."
An article that appeared in last week's Nunavut News/North which stated the housing control would be handled in Cambridge Bay was erroneous.
Since 1997, the hamlet had administered public housing under a community empowerment agreement. Prior to that, Kikitak was the local housing authority.
Both the hamlet and the association acted as the Nunavut Housing Corporation's agent in the community.
The hamlet decided to give the public housing authority back to Kikitak after a recent Nunavut Housing Corporation evaluation found problems with the hamlet-run housing authority.
"Local control remains in place in Gjoa Haven with a local board of governance, a local housing manager and staff," said Dave Crockatt, district director for the Nunavut Housing Corporation in Cambridge Bay.
There is a full-time staff of eight at the Kikitak Housing Association.
"The hamlet has been totally co-operative with us to make this transition as seamless as possible," said Crockatt. "We're all out for the same thing here: to make public housing run smoothly for the people."
Gjoa Haven has 693 people living in public units with 163 livable housing units available.
Tungilik said new units are scheduled to be built in the next few years to alleviate the overcrowding.
"I don't see any reason for anyone to worry about the housing situation at all," she said.
Since the change-over, the only major move for Kikitak has been to transfer to a new office in town that is separate from the hamlet office.
"We have been doing a few renovations here," said Tungilik. "We are in business starting next week."
