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Family of 22 in one house Nunavut needs 3,500 more housing units to alleviate overcrowding in the territory
Darrell Greer
Northern News Services
Published Saturday, September 14, 2013
NAUJAAT/REPULSE BAY
Lunchtime at Yvonne Uttak's house is a zoo as 22 household members return home to fill their bellies.
Residents of Repulse Bay eat a traditional feast as part of the grand opening celebrations for the community's new health centre last May. The housing situation in Repulse Bay has reached a crisis with 22 people including 17 children living in one four-bedroom house. - photo courtesy of Karen Yip
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They grab a plate of food and crowd into the living area to find space to sit, whether it be on the floor, on a couch or at the coffee table.
"We need more room," 22-year-old Uttak states simply.
The four-bedroom house in Repulse Bay is home to 17 children, between five months and 14 years old, and five adults.
They have been living with about 22 people in the house for two or three years, said Uttak, who is the mother of the youngest child in the home.
"Some tried to apply for a house but they didn't get picked so they ended up staying here with my mom (Bernadette Katokra)," she added.
At times there have been as many as 24 people living in the house.
To make more space for sleeping, the family has turned the back porch into a room.
Between them all they share eight beds.
Weekday mornings are quite a hassle for the family with only one bathroom for everyone.
The adults wake the kids at about 8 a.m. for school and try to get them in and out of the bathroom as quick as possible.
"They don't always hurry up so we end up waiting," said Uttak.
"Some would be late to go to school but some would be early."
The situation is made more difficult because none of the adults have been able to get work.
In 2011, the unemployment rate in Repulse Bay was 25 per cent, according to Statistics Canada.
"The food sometimes is too little for our family because we're not working," said Uttak, adding they try and make do as well as they can.
"We're trying to be brave… I hope (housing) will help us."
The family is not alone in their need for another unit.
Peter Taptuna, the minister responsible for the Nunavut Housing Corporation, said the territory would need more than 3,500 additional units to alleviate overcrowding in Nunavut.
The price tag for such a project would be greater than $1 billion, he stated in the legislative assembly last week.
However, the federal government has committed $100 million for 250 new housing units in Nunavut.
As part of this initiative, Repulse Bay will receive 20 new units.
Taptuna didn't say if Uttak's family would be getting one of the units but he planned to have his staff look into the situation.
He also didn't specify what other communities would be receiving a share of the 250 houses.
The plan, he said, is to allocate the units based on the waiting list of each community.
In Iqaluit they need five additional houses for every 10 they have and Repulse Bay is not far behind Iqaluit in its need for homes, Alain Barriault, president of the Nunavut Housing Corporation, told the legislative assembly last week.
Arviat and Clyde River are also in dire need of additional housing.
The lowest need is in Resolute Bay, where one house is needed for every 10 units.
Barriault said the communities that aren't receiving a share of the homes need, on average, less than one house for every five units they have.
"So there is quite a discrepancy in the needs between our communities," he told MLAs.
"At this point, we want to address the discrepancy first. Communities that have 22 people living in one house will be addressed before other houses that have less overcrowding."
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