GNWT report: Housing shortage worsens in communities

ANNETTE BOURGEOIS

As the federal and territorial governments draw their purse strings tighter and tighter, the demand for basic shelter for thousands of northern residents continues to balloon.

A snapshot of the situation reveals that the problem of housing northern residents is growing out of control, despite the territorial government’s infusion of $160 million into new construction over the past five years.

In some communities, such as Hall Beach, it’s feared that continued crowding will exacerbate existing health and social problems.

“We need more houses, definitely,” said Zillah Piallaq, assistant manager for the Hall Beach Housing Association. In one case, 17 people are known to be sharing a four-bedroom home.

“It’s been really hard. There are so many problems coming out of overcrowding.”

In Clyde River the housing shortage has also reached crisis proportions.

When Senior Administrative Officer Johnathan Palluq recently advertised a job opening in the community for a new assistant SAO, he couldn’t guarantee the new employee a place to live.

No room for new workers

“It was hard finding someone from outside the community.” Palluq said.

Until the hamlet locates a home, Palluq said the new assistant SAO won’t be able to start work in the community.

Overcrowding also adds to the stress in a household.

“Most of the families, especially elders, are living in overcrowded houses. They have their grandchildren and children living with them,”

Palluq said the problem is too large for the hamlet to solve and residents are looking to the territorial government for help.

In 1992, the GNWT conducted a survey that identified a need for 3,500 homes for northern residents. That accounted for 24 per cent of the entire population. Critics of that survey said the definition for basic shelter was exaggerated and the report indicated a higher number of homes than was required.

Last week housing minister Goo Arlooktoo released another survey using less stringent criteria and the results show the need has grown to 4,356 households. Although the number of households is higher, the figure represents about 23 per cent of the population.

Can’t keep up with demand

“This has grown despite this government’s investment of $160 million in 1,435 homes since 1992,” Arlooktoo said.

The minister recently tabled the initial findings of the 1996 housing needs survey in the legislative assembly. The report details the overall situation in the territories and classifies northern households in “core need” if their housing situation is unsuitable, inadequte or unaffordable.

Unsuitability describes a problem of overcrowding, as defined by national standards; inadequacy refers to the poor physical condition of a home; and unaffordability is defined as any household paying more than 30 per cent of its total income on shelter.

Nearly 40 per cent of northern households, about 7,397, indicated one or more of these housing problems, and fewer than half of these generate sufficient income to solve the problem without government assistance.

Compared to the 1992 survey, more households now identify affordability as their key housing problem.

Twenty per cent of private households, which make up 68.9 per cent of all territorial housing, require government assistance to solve their housing problems. That’s up from 12.5 per cent five years ago.

Reports detailing housing needs on a community-by-community basis will be released this summer. Those reports will also outline recommendations designed to address the specific housing problems in each community.

“We’ve decided it’s impossible to do one strategy for the entire NWT, ” Arlooktoo said, “so we’re going to do it community by community.

“Whether we’ll be building new ones or trying to fix existing ones will depend on the community’s specific problem,” he said.

The population factor

Arlooktoo said the disappearance of federal funding for social housing has meant several hundred fewer homes being built each year in the NWT. That, combined with high unemployment and a population boom, add to the demand on government to provide housing in the North.

Although funding for new social housing construction is gone, the GNWT has locked into a deal with Ottawa to the tune of $1 billion to maintain the existing 6,000 social-housing units in the NWT. Each unit costs about $15,000 a year to operate.

“For the next 10 years or so we know how much money we’re getting and we’re not getting a decrease,” Arlooktoo said.

Arlooktoo along with several other cabinet ministers travelled to Ottawa this week to lobby new federal ministers.

“We’re looking at big problems ahead if we don’t get any more money,” he said.

The GNWT will spend $120 million over the next three years to encourage northerners to buy their own homes under Plan 2,000. The plan is to help 2,000 families become home owners.

Arlooktoo said about 500 applications have already been approved and 80 per cent of those are for the construction of new homes. Nearly half of that construction will happen in Nunavut.