NUNAVUT - There's no doubt Nunavut is suffering when it comes to housing, according to Patsy Owlijoot, vice-president of the Nunavut Housing Corporation.

Housing units, like this one in Kugaaruk under construction in 2007, are alleviating the housing crunch to a degree, but community administrators say shortages remain. - NNSL file photo

"It's close to 4,000 units we need right now. On top of that, we need an additional 250 houses each year to keep up with the population," said Owlijoot.

Without up-to-date data, it's impossible to know exactly how dire the situation is, she said.

A comprehensive housing survey by the territorial government, set to begin by the end of November, will provide the data needed to gauge how serious the housing shortage is.

The depth of the problem is "exactly what we want to find out," said Owlijoot. "We want to find out how many people are living in a house and if they're not sleeping in a bedroom, which room they're sleeping in."

In communities across Nunavut, people without a home squeeze in with their families, Owlijoot said. Shelters are scarce and sleeping outside isn't an option in the winter when temperature can drop below -50 C.

Young people are often left living in their parents' homes long after they've turned 19 - the age at which they can apply for public housing.

"It's the young people that our waiting list consists of," Owlijoot said. "The majority of people on our waiting list are for two bedrooms."

Resolute's senior administrative officer Duncan Walker agreed.

"I think it's more when you're looking at younger families and there are usually two people prior to having any children, they usually get stuck living at home," he said.

"Some of these people require single-bedroom units or two-bedroom units, but those aren't readily available in town."

Walker said he doesn't believe the community is as badly off as other municipalities in the territory. Two duplexes were built last year and a five-plex was built in 2007. The materials for three three-bedroom units have already arrived and construction is scheduled for next year. The territory's waiting list is telling, Owlijoot said.

"The ones that are hurting the most are the biggest communities," Owlijoot said. As of Oct. 2009, Iqaluit had the highest number of home-seekers at 238, Arviat at 142 and Rankin Inlet at 137 - the three longest lists.

Brian Flemming, senior administrative officer for Iglulik, said while housing is a problem, he knows the scarcity affects every community.

"Across the board, I think the waiting list for public housing units is pretty long," he said.

Iglulik is scheduled to get 11 single units and one five-plex next year, Flemming said.

Mayor Charlie Lyall of Taloyoak said he believes one of the problems with housing is that people are jumping the waiting list.

"We get people coming from down south getting houses when they get here, yet there are people from Taloyoak on a waiting list," he said.

Gordon Dinney, manager of the Taloyoak Housing Authority, said sometimes units are used to house workers on a temporary basis, but only if hotel rooms aren't available.

"It's only in the event that housing is not available in the hotel, and only on a short term basis," Dinney said.

Dinney said there is currently no housing available in Taloyoak, but more than 20 new units are expected to be ready by mid-January.

"We have approximately 80 families looking for houses here," he said.

The Housing Corporation commissioned the Nunavut Bureau of Statistics and Statistics Canada to create the survey, Owlijoot said. The project has been underway for about three years. It aims to find out who needs houses, where they're sleeping and the extent of overcrowding as families cram into small spaces.

"Right now we've got 1,500 families on our waiting list. That's families, not people," said Owlijoot. "We need proper data."

Armed with accurate numbers, the housing corporation will be able to approach the federal government for funding with facts to back up their demands.

"We'll be able to address the overcrowding of the houses with figures, with numbers, with percentages ... it'll give us solid proof," she said. Cambridge Bay Mayor Syd Glawson said housing in Nunavut has been a problem since he moved to the territory.

"We've been here 30 years, it's been that way since day one," he said. "They're not building enough housing."

Glawson said the territory is specifically lacking homes that are reasonably priced.

"There should be affordable housing, and affordable housing here in the North is almost a figment of imagination," he said.

During the last Statistics Canada census, in 2006, 18 per cent of all dwellings in the territory reported more than one person per room - a "strong indicator" of overcrowding, according to auditor general Sheila Fraser. The Canadian average was 1.5 per cent.

In May, Fraser reported mismanagement and a lack of communication between the housing corporation and its community partners in her speech to the legislative assembly. More than 50 per cent of the dwellings in the territory are operated by the corporation, she said, but adequate information wasn't being passed back to the housing corporation on their management and upkeep.

The issues arising from the report are being worked on, Owlijoot said. The survey was in the works long before Fraser made her submission.

However, the report made the housing corporation "push even harder, to try even harder to get (the survey)," Owlijoot said.

Sixty Nunavummiut have been hired to carry out the survey, Owlijoot said. The groundwork is to be completed by February. The housing corporation received $200 million in 2006 from the Nunavut Housing Trust, funded by the federal government, to build 725 units, Owlijoot said.

This year, the last 182 were underway. All 725 will have been constructed, including three extra, by early 2010, Owlijoot said. Another $100 million has been pledged for an additional 290 units and construction will begin next summer, she said.

"We have 20 units under construction right now, four five-plexes," said Clyde River SAO Bill Buckle. "They're definitely needed. We'll fill those and we'll still need more."

"There are lots of young families living with mom and dad or grandma or grandpa, those people need to get their own units," he said.

The new units from the housing trust are making a difference in Qikiqtarjuaq, according to SAO Rick van Horne. "It's helping substantially alleviate the problems," he said, adding that more still needs to be done. "The population's increasing faster than the resources are available to build the units," he said.

It's the same problem in Kimmirut, according to SAO Akeego Akkidluak, "A lot of the younger ones that are just starting out need housing."

Chesterfield Inlet Mayor Harry Tootoo said new units, not renovated units, are what is needed.

"They've been fixing up these old units over and over and it doesn't do anything to alleviate the problem," he said. "It has created another problem where the house is getting smaller and smaller and the main structure itself is falling apart."

Tootoo said renovating an existing unit usually involves patching over existing framework, which only makes it smaller. By the time work is done the unit is "two to three inches smaller in the interior," Tootoo said.

With a long laundry list of housing problems across the territory, the survey is "long overdue," according to Buckle. "When you're fighting (like) everyone else with the feds to get the coin, you need to have the best data you can get."