IQALUIT
Nunavut Housing Corporation’s capital budget proposal moved smoothly through the legislative assembly last week.

Nathaniel Mapsalak, a general labourer, at work in 2010 on the construction site of a new apartment building that was being built in Repulse Bay by Naujat Co-operative Ltd. for the Nunavut Housing Corporation. - NNSL file photo

Statistics show every new home it represents is desperately needed, but demand will continue to outstrip supply unless a long-term funding strategy is developed.

According to Housing Minister George Kuksuk, at $153 million dollars per year (last year’s total government of Nunavut capital estimate which included federal funding) it would take 12 years to meet housing demand when coupled with current population growth.

“According to the stats, we’re approximately 3,500 units behind demand,” said Iqaluit MLA George Hickes. “And that’s increasing every year.”

“Basically, from the money we’re allocated it is an impossible task,” Hickes said. “Like I stated in the house, I appreciate every bit of assistance the federal government has been able to provide up until this point, but we need stable funding so we can plan.”

Fifteen million dollars worth of new housing investment passed with legislative approval. Ten million is for new public housing, while five million is for staff housing units. Combined, this means approximately 25 multifamily public housing units across Nunavut, and four staff housing duplexes.

Combined with the anticipated construction of 213 units over this year and the next under a federally funded program, this was welcome news, but it only begins to address the housing deficit Nunavut faces.

“We estimate that an additional 90 units will be required each year to keep pace with population growth based on current Nunavut bureau of statistics projections and the proportion of the population currently dependent on public housing,” Kuksuk said.

An issue almost as significant as the construction of new buildings is the preventative maintenance of existing buildings.

Kuksuk told the legislature it costs close to $23,000 per year to maintain and pay utilities for each multi-family unit. If homes were available to meet the current demand, that would mean $82.3 million dollars in annual maintenance costs, according to Kuksuk, with an additional $2 million per year as housing came online to meet population growth demand.

The addition of more than 1,000 houses under the Nunavut Housing Trust and Canada’s Economic Action Plan has already added $23 million in annual operating costs.

The $10 million in new public housing contained in this year’s capital budget is further overshadowed by $22 million in rental arrears and tenant damages owed to various local housing authorities.

This is up from 2008, when arrears were reported to stand at $13 million.

The housing crisis in Nunavut can be understood in terms of a self-perpetuating cycle, Hickes explained.

“A number of our youth, as a result of this shortage of housing, have a challenge in developing life skills through self-sustenance,” Hickes said. “That makes it difficult. When they do get a unit they’re already in their thirties and have a family. They have to learn how to budget and how to function on their own (for the first time).”

“Every dollar we spend on maintenance is money that could be spent on developing new housing,” Hickes added.

While Hickes said he appreciates every bit of assistance made by the federal government to the housing corporation, the territory needs to work to develop a stable, long-term funding strategy to address the housing deficit.

“When there are peaks and valleys in your funding, you’re starting from a stand-still every time there’s an allocation of money,” Hickes said.

Without stable year-after-year funding momentum, contractor capacity will always be an open question when funding does become available.

“We have to take into consideration (the) capacity of contracting companies,” Hickes said. “Even if we were given the… dollars we need to improve our housing stock, where would we get the contractors to do the work?”

“If we just had good, long-term, stable funding we could make headway into the 3,500 on an incremental basis. It’s doable, as the housing corporation is proving.”