Nunavut lines up projects to combat housing crisis | Polarjournal
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Nunavut lines up projects to combat housing crisis

Mirjana Binggeli 28. June 2024 | Arctic, Society
Owning your own home? Not easy in Nunavut, which is experiencing a major housing crisis. However, to encourage access to home ownership, the region has set up a pilot project. Photo: Nunavut Housing Corp.

Encouraging access to home ownership and building student housing with the active participation of students, Nunavut has launched a series of projects to combat the housing crisis.

Starting next week, Nunavut Housing Corp. (NHC) goes on tour. The goal? Visit 10 hamlets in the area to enable housing to be built. The tour is part of the Nunavut 3000 project, which aims to respond to the housing crisis that is severely affecting the region. With 3,000 new homes to be built by 2030, the project is ambitious but necessary. All that remains now is to identify how to make the “most efficient use of resources”, secure the lots for construction in 2025, ensure that they are suitable for development and obtain the views of local residents.

This is not the first time that the NHC has undertaken a tour of this kind. Already last September, this territorial public agency in charge of housing programs had visited 17 hamlets. The NHC’s initiatives don’t stop at these visits, however.

Last May, the agency announced a pilot project to promote home ownership. Launched in partnership with the Kitikmeot Inuit Association (KitIA), an organization representing the Inuit of the Kitikmeot region, the “Nunavut Pathway to Homeownership” project will provide a housing unit for four Inuit families in Cambridge Bay. Each month, families will pay rent to NHC, and at the same time participate in a financial literacy program for homeowners. Over three years, this program will offer courses on budgeting, interest rates, mortgages and credit ratings. In other words, training to help participants find their way through the maze of home ownership and manage the financial aspects. At the end of the program, participants will have the opportunity to buy a housing unit and become homeowners, thanks to a subsidy of up to C$30,000 (just over €20,000) to buy a house.

Inherited at the time of the territory’s independence in the late 1990s, Nunavut’s housing problems pose serious challenges for the territory’s communities, between a growing young population and constraints linked to the Arctic environment. Here, the territory’s capital, Iqaluit. Photo: Aaron Einstein / Wikipedia

“The Nunavut Pathway to Homeownership Pilot Program bridges a critical gap in the housing continuum between tenancy and homeownership,” said Lorne Kusugak, Minister responsible for the NHC in the press release published on May 23 on the agency’s website. “By partnering with KitIA to deliver financial literacy and homeownership skills training that reflects Inuit Qaujimajatuqangit principles, we can better equip prospective homeowners, and support them in their path to homeownership.”

And the initiatives don’t stop there. On May 29, NHC, in partnership with Nunavut Arctic College, announced the construction of affordable housing for Rankin Inlet students. The project, which should be completed by summer 2025, also includes a construction training component for students, who will be able to contribute directly to the creation of their new homes. By supporting students through on-the-job training, such programs can expand Nunavut’s skilled workforce and extend housing solutions to communities throughout the territory, states the release on the NHC website.

These programs are part of the Nunavut 3000 strategy. Implemented by the Government of Nunavut and the NHC, this strategy, announced in 2022, aims to build 3 000 housing units in the territory by 2030. The project also aims to lower construction costs, notably through the use of modular homes adapted to the Arctic environment, while promoting energy efficiency and enabling Nunavummiut to access more affordable housing, as well as home ownership. Finally, introducing innovation and strengthening the long-term capacity of the housing sector is the third pillar of action in the Nunavut 3000 project.

From its Inuit name, Igluliuqatigiingniq means “Building houses together”, and its mission is to meet the needs of a population currently affected by a major housing shortage. Image: Nunavut Housing Corp.

According to the Nunavut 3000 report, published in 2022, Nunavut has a population of 36,800. According to Statistics Canada, the territory’s population is set to increase by 17,000 by 2043. With Canada’s youngest population, housing needs are set to become even more pressing in the years ahead.

A situation that dates back to 1999, according to the report, when the federal government withdrew its support for housing nationwide, following Nunavut’s independence. The latter inherited a serious infrastructure and housing deficit.

The total cost of the Nunavut 3000 project has been estimated at C$2.57 billion (€1.7 billion) over eight years. More than a third of the financing is expected to come from private-sector investment. For the remaining two-thirds, funding will come from the public via federal and territorial resources.

Mirjana Binggeli, Polar Journal AG

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