Charest set to personally deliver new home ownership program in Nunavik

These two privately-owned houses in Kangirsuk — two of only 60 in all Nunavik — were built during the region’s last home ownership program. (FILE PHOTO)

This painting by Kuujjuaq’s Alec Gordon, which decorates the lobby of the Kativik Municipal Housing Bureau in Kuujjuaq, shows the evolution of housing in the community — a new home ownership program under Quebec’s Plan Nord could spur another generation of privately-built houses in Kuujjuaq and other Nunavik communities. (PHOTO BY JANE GEORGE)

KUUJJUAQ — Nunavik’s long-awaited home ownership program is inching closer to the region.

Quebec premier Jean Charest is expected to come to Kuujjuaq within the next two weeks to seal the new deal, a major part of his Plan Nord pledge to alleviate the housing crisis in Nunavik.

The program is a first step towards a goal of seeing 15 to 20 per cent of Nunavimmiut living in privately or co-operatively-owned homes within 25 years, by building 200 new units, private and cooperatively-owned units, over the next five years.

But there’s a hitch: months of bureaucratic delays on the program’s approval mean it’s likely to arrive too late this year for any aspiring homeowners to build a dwelling.

Many simply won’t have the time to apply for the program, find a lot, chose a contractor and a design in order to bring any materials on the 2012 sealift.

“To buy an existing house, it’s never too late,” said Watson Fournier, manager of the Kativik Municipal Housing Bureau, which will deliver the program. “But it would be difficult to do it this year and inadvisable technically.”

The compressed timeline for 2012 means the five-year housing program will be compressed into four years.

“Now we have 200 [housing units] to do in four years,” Fournier said.

As well, the new program’s goal of freeing up social housing units for those who most need them will be slowed down by a full year.

That means some Nunavik residents already in dire need of social housing units will face 12 more months of cramped conditions.

Quebec’s cabinet recently approved the new home ownership program, but much of the official paperwork between Quebec, its housing bureau, the Société d’habitation du Québec, and the KMHB, needed to finalize and launch the program, hasn’t been finished.

Fournier said the KMHB is already working on the information Nunavimmiut will need on the program, called “Promoting home ownership and residential renovation in the Kativik region.”

In a month’s time, Fournier said the program should be up and running, with an information kit available in English, French and Inuttitut.

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.

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.

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.

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.

When there’s more of a private housing market, social housing tenants will start paying a higher rent, more regularly, 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.

The home ownership plan may also enable social housing tenants who live in units built after 2000 to buy their units.

But of the current Nunavik homeowners, not all are happy, as one man recently related on Facebook.

“I know  a lot of you are out there waiting for the program to start to be able to live your dream home. Let me tell you first hand,  it is not a dream home: it is where you will spend all of your money and have nothing left to enjoy with…you’re always worried if you paid your  insurance, municipal taxes, electricity, mortgage, oil, plus the regular[s] of phone, cable — don’t forget, I didn’t mention food, clothes, etc., internet. So if you’re smart, you’d stay where you are.”

Fournier said that before the new home ownership program grants money to prospective builders, their ability to carry the higher costs of the private home will be examined.

Of Nunavik’s most recent crop of homeowners, only two lost their homes to the bank, while about five ended up selling their homes, he said.