Home page

Text size

E-mail this page

IQALUIT
An Iqaluit woman is recovering in hospital after a Jan. 2 fire in the bedroom of her social housing unit. Her two children, brother and a guest staying at the home all escaped injury in the blaze, which was contained to one bedroom.

This home, house 2218A, is one of three Iqaluit social housing units taken out of commission in December. The fire here was contained to one bedroom, so the fire department expects the housing authority should be able to restore the home to livable condition. - Casey Lessard/NNSL photo

"We were able to successfully contain the fire to the one unit and to the area of origin," and were able to control the fire within 20 minutes of arrival, said acting fire chief Blaine Wiggins, whose crews were called at 3:50 a.m. "The family that was in the unit self-evacuated to a friend's location a couple houses down, and we were called to that location. We evacuated the rest of the units."

The woman, in her early 20s, was taken to Qikiqtani General Hospital, where she was treated for smoke inhalation. Her children were also taken to hospital but were released. No one else in the complex was hurt, and neighbours were able to return to their units that morning.

Contrary to rumours, another unit in the multi-plex, directly beside Joamie School, was not affected by the fire but was boarded up for existing renovations. Another fire, earlier in December, took another two public housing units out of commission.

"We've lost quite a number of units over the year," said Mayor Madeleine Redfern, expressing concern about the loss of social housing. "There are usually a lot of people – and very vulnerable people – affected. Their options are way more limited compared to when the 29 (government employee) units burned down (in March); the 24 government employees and their dependants were able to be rehoused within a week because the GN had access to more housing stock set aside for their employees. People in social housing just don't have that same level of options available to them."

Typically, the housing authority would bump the victims to the top of the list for housing, Nunavut Housing Corporation president Alain Barriault said. However, if the authority's investigation of an incident yields unfavourable results as to the cause of the fire, the housing authority could decide the residents should not have an immediate replacement housing unit, as is the case for the victims of the early December fire. Those residents, cast to the bottom of the waiting list, are left in a tough spot.

"We understand the board met and decided that this woman and her baby and teenaged daughter will not be rehoused and have been living at the women's shelter for over a month," Redfern said, noting the city is working with Maliiganik to help the woman determine if the decision was fair. "They are basically now looking at a three-year wait. That's a scary prospect."

The two fires added to Iqaluit's housing crunch, but thanks to a fast response by firefighters, the three units taken out of commission will be able to welcome residents soon, acting fire chief Blaine Wiggins said. Since the Building 4100 fire in March, the fire department has been able to contain all fires to their areas of origin, he said.

"Definitely once the housing corporation gets in there," they will be able to make the home habitable again, Wiggins said. "There is no structural damage to the unit."

That's good news for the Nunavut Housing Corporation, which is trying to catch up to the demand for public housing.

"We've had three fires recently, but our net (gains) are way ahead of our losses. And the ones out of commission are only out temporarily," Barriault said. "In 2011, we turned over more than 300 public housing units. In Iqaluit, we added three four-plexes and four five-plexes, so there are 32 new units in the past year."

This adds to the housing corporation's stock of almost 5,000 units, but the need far outweighs the supply.

"Iqaluit has the bulk of all the housing in Nunavut, but it also has the longest waiting list," he said. "As of the end of October, there were 262 individuals or families on the waiting list. A typical wait is one to two years. One of the big concerns is the lack of other affordable housing choices. Iqaluit has more than any other community, however affordability is still the largest issue, as seen in the CMHC report recently."

With Canada's highest average rents (among cities) at $2,265 for a two-bedroom apartment, according to the CMHC, Redfern agrees a solution is needed.

"You may have one tenant and their immediate dependants," affected by a fire, she said, "but you usually have extended family members like brothers, uncles, cousins and grandparents residing in the unit who are equally impacted by the loss of the primary home.

"I wish we had more social housing units, more private housing units at affordable rents so that when people find themselves in this situation, people aren't as vulnerable and displaced as they can be," she said.

Both the fire department and RCMP are investigating the latest blaze.

We welcome your opinions. Click here to e-mail a letter to the editor.