2 Nunavut housing projects get $50,000 grants

Two Nunavut community housing projects have received a financial boost.

Uquutaq Society received $50,000 for planning and pre-development of housing in Iqaluit. Also, the Cambridge Bay Housing Association received $50,000 for energy retrofitting, workshops, operations and maintenance planning through the capacity building stream.

Alex Wolf, program manager with the Community Housing Transformation Centre, announced the funding Oct. 23 in a news release. The funding was finalized in September, he said.

The Community Housing Transformation Centre is a national non-profit that administers the Nunalingni Piruqpaalirut Fund in partnership with Nunavut Housing Corp. Money for the fund comes from the housing corporation and financial in-kind contributions from the centre.

The two groups came together to support the fund in February 2023.

Alison Lair, director of programs for the housing centre, said the money is for planning and pre-development projects such as designs, concepts, drawings and feasibility studies.

“There’s a piece of land that has been identified, and now looking at how you progress it from a piece of land to a building and is it feasible as well,” she said of the process.

Eligible organizations can be non-profit housing providers or organizations, co-operative housing providers, or community and regional groups.

People in Nunavut communities where a non-profit does not exist but there’s need for community housing can contact the centre directly, Lair said.

“This can start at the absolute grassroots level, where there are three people sitting around a kitchen table and say, ‘We need to do something,'” she said.

“Community knows what’s best for community, and working to turn them into a reality is what the capacity stream of funding does.”

Applications are open until Jan. 25, 2025.