Quebec promotes new home ownership program for Nunavik

John MacKay, president and director of Quebec’s housing bureau, the Société d’habitation du Québec, shown June 21 at the opening of Kangiqsualujjuaq’s new assisted living centre, wants to see more Nunavimmiut taking the plunge into home ownership. (PHOTO BY PASCAL POULIN)

These houses in Kangirsuk, two of the 60 privately-owned homes in Nunavik, were built during the first round of home ownership programs in Quebec. (PHOTO BY JANE GEORGE)

In the 1960s, governments wanted Inuit in Nunavik to move off the land into communities, to live in tents, qammaqs or tiny matchbox houses.

Now, nearly 40 years after the James Bay and Northern Quebec Agreement kick-started Nunavik’s wage-based economy, there’s another government-fueled push underway: for Nunavimmiut to move out of social housing and into homes they own privately or through co-operatives.

Nunavik’s new home ownership program, part of Plan Nord’s pledge to alleviate the housing crisis in the region, wants to see 15 to 20 per cent of Nunavimmiut living in privately or co-operatively-owned homes within 25 years.

As it stands now, 98 per cent of Nunavimmiut, even those with well-paying jobs, live in social housing units, which are intended for low-income earners.

There are only about 60 privately-owned homes in Nunavik, mainly located in Kuujjuaq.

John MacKay, president and director of Quebec’s housing bureau, the Société d’habitation du Québec, told Nunatsiaq News that he hopes Nunavimmiut can come to appreciate the value of home ownership and develop a sense of pride in their homes.

Despite the higher costs involved, monthly mortgage payments are like “putting money in the bank,” because the money returns to the homeowners when they sell, MacKay said.

The new home ownership program designed to tempt Nunavimmiut to move out of social housing will pay 75 per cent of the cost of a $410,000 house, 30 per cent of their home insurance and $7,000 a year towards municipal services and taxes.

Home builders in communities outside Kuujjuaraapik and Kuujjuaq, where the costs are lower, will receive more financial assistance with the construction costs, MacKay said.

The SHQ also hopes to see about 50 co-operatively-owned units built in Nunavik over the next five years.

Nunavimmiut who decide to form non-profit co-operative associations to build and own their housing will see 90 per cent of their construction costs covered, and benefit same additional perks for insurance and taxes as private homeowners.

Co-operative owned housing, where co-owners build, manage and maintain their housing together, has proved to be a popular form of ownership in southern Quebec, MacKay said.

The home ownership program will cost Quebec $68.2 million over five years — but with social housing maintenance costs averaging about $30,000 a year per unit, the SHQ will recoup its investment within 20 years.

But the program isn’t about saving money, MacKay said. “We’re not here to make money, but to provide a service.”

MacKay also thinks that the rise of a private housing market will encourage more social housing tenants in Nunavik to pay their rent.

In the South, most tenants pay their rent or else they face eviction, he said. “This can’t happen in Nunavik.”

In Nunavik, when tenants are evicted they risk ending up homeless or are obliged to move in with relatives, compounding the chronic overcrowding in other social housing units.

Still, the Kativik Municipal Housing Bureau, the SHQ’s arm in Nunavik, plans to proceed this summer with 16 evictions of the worst tenants, who haven’t paid their social housing rent in years.

The KMHB’s audited financial statements for 2010 shows rent arrears for social housing units in Nunavik have swollen to $14 million since 2000.

In 2010, arrears increased by nearly $2.2 million, with one in four tenants in social housing not paying any rent at all.

When there’s more of a private housing market, MacKay said social housing tenants will start paying rent, or face eviction and paying even more on the open market.

Current homeowners in Nunavik will also get some help under the new home ownership program: $50,000 for renovations.

There’s also discussion underway about another housing ownership plan. This would enable social housing tenants who live in units built after 2000 to buy their units.

About 20 Nunavik residents have already lined up to take advantage of the homeownership program. Other groups are eyeing co-op housing ventures.

They’ll find the new home ownership program requires less paperwork and is easier to access, MacKay said.

Quebec’s cabinet hasn’t yet approved the program, but MacKay said he would be “very surprised” if the ministers didn’t approve it before they break for the summer.

As for the 500 housing units urgently needed in Nunavik — which won’t be covered by the home ownership program, talks continue with the federal government, he said,