Housing crisis in Gjoa Haven “disturbing,” Nunavut MLA says

Gjoa Haven MLA Tony Akoak with Baker Lake MLA Simeon Mikkungwak to his left and Aivilik MLA Steve Mapsalak to his right. Akoak said Gjoa Haven suffers from a “disturbing” housing crisis. (PHOTO BY THOMAS ROHNER)

Gjoa Haven MLA Tony Akoak spent part of this past summer conducting an informal survey in his community on overcrowded living conditions, the MLA said in the legislature in Iqaluit Oct. 29.

“The results were very disturbing,” Akoak said in a member’s statement.

Akoak shared some of the results from the two dozen households he visited: a three-bedroom unit with nine people living in it; one four-bedroom unit with 11 people, another four-bedroom with 13, and a third four-bedroom unit with 17 people living in it.

“I could continue, but I think these examples clearly show that Gjoa Haven is facing a serious situation,” Akoak said.

This serious situation is not new to Gjoa Haven, though.

A 2010 Nunavut household needs survey found six in 10 dwellings in Gjoa Haven to be overcrowded — tied with Repulse Bay for the worst conditions in the territory.

And earlier this year, during the spring sitting of the legislature, Akoak estimated 50 families in his community of about 1,400 people are homeless because of a shortage of housing units.

Another survey done in 2010, this one by the Conference Board of Canada, found that virtually every social and health problem, when combined with overcrowding, dramatically increases.

The Government of Nunavut incorporated this knowledge into its long-term comprehensive housing and homelessness strategy, called Igluliuqatigiilauqta or “Let’s build a home together,” tabled in the legislature in 2013.

And a delegation representing elders and women at the recent Nunavut Tunngavik Inc. annual general meeting in Cambridge Bay warned that overcrowding puts elders, women and food security at risk.

NTI president Cathy Towtongie vowed action on “desperately needed housing-units for Inuit” at the meeting.

But in Gjoa Haven the “serious situation” persists.

“I want to take this opportunity to invite the minister for the Nunavut Housing Corp. to visit Gjoa Haven,” Akoak said during his statement, “so that he can get a first-hand understanding of the situation facing my community.”

A document tabled in the legislature Oct. 29, titled “2015-2016 Planned Construction and Land Acquisition and Development,” shows that Gjoa Haven is not expected to see any public or staff housing construction for at least a couple of years.

The GN budgeted $10 million for three five-plexes each in Pond Inlet, Kugaaruk and Arviat in 2015 – 2016.

It also budgeted $5 million for staff housing: one duplex each in Kimmirut, Hall Beach, Resolute Bay, Coral Harbour and Whale Cove.