Makivik delegates call for lower rent for Nunavik elders, low-income tenants

Delegates at Makivik Corp.’s annual general meeting in Kuujjuaraapik passed a resolution March 18 asking the Quebec government to ensure a fair social rent scale for social housing tenants in Nunavik. (PHOTO COURTESY OF MAKIVIK CORP)

Elders attending Makivik’s AGM in Kuujjuaraapik last week said it’s unreasonable for Quebec to ask people to pay an eight per cent annual increase in social housing rent because of the high and growing cost of living in Nunavik. (PHOTO BY SARAH ROGERS)

Nunavik’s Makivik Corp. says it wants a fair and equitable rent scale for social housing tenants in the region, and fast.

Delegates at the Inuit birthright organization’s annual general meeting in Kuujjuaraapik passed a resolution March 18 asking the Quebec government to ensure a fair social rent scale “which takes into consideration the capacity of Nunavik families to pay rent, especially low and modest income families and Nunavik’s elders,” the resolution read.

Elders attending the meeting said the province is unreasonable to ask people to pay high rent when because of the high and growing cost of living in Nunavik.

“The whole question of rent scale has been raised again and again, especially by elders, who are on a limited budget,” said Eileen Klinkig, a long-time advisor to Makivik on its housing files.

“We’re really trying to make sure families get a break.”

Together with the Kativik Regional Government, Makivik drafted a letter to Quebec Premier Philippe Couillard late last month asking his government to agree to a rent adjustment for Nunavik’s social housing tenants.

But neither organization has received a response from the premier’s office, Klinkig said.

Social housing tenants in Nunavik have been under the same rent scale since 2005, which provides annual rent increases of eight per cent.

Regional leadership asked the province in 2013 to review those rates, given the high cost of living in Nunavik.

The following year, Quebec announced a temporary rent freeze for Nunavik’s social housing tenants whose combined income is less than $90,000.

The freeze was meant to buy time for Quebec and Nunavik to negotiate a new rent scale for all the region’s social housing tenants, but that’s yet to happen.

Now, the Kativik Municipal Housing Bureau is just days away from sending tenants their April 1 rent increase notice, which would go into effect in July.

An estimated 72 per cent of Nunavimmiut households earn less than $30,000.

“It’s a significant portion,” Klinkig said. We’re trying to ensure that low and modest income tenants are not unnecessarily burdened.”

Nunavik’s housing issues don’t end there; the region has for years asked the federal government to fund a catch up program that will build roughly 800 housing units in the region, the number Makivik estimates is needed to provide enough housing for the region.

Makivik president Jobie Tukkiapik is in Ottawa March 21 to meet with Indigenous and Northern Affairs Minister Carolyn Bennett to discuss housing issues, although the discussion is not expected to influence the federal budget, which comes down March 22.