KMHB looks to social media to reach Nunavik tenants

The KMHB is reaching out to its tenants via a new Facebook page.

Nunavik’s Kativik Municipal Housing Bureau has launched a Facebook page to help the organization better connect to its tenants across the region.

The new page will offer tenants information about the agency’s policies and job openings, as well as the renovation and construction of new housing, the KMHB said Sept. 24.

Over the past few years, the housing bureau has been listening to its tenants in an attempt to gauge their needs and concerns, the KMHB said.

An analysis pointed to the region’s regular use of social media.

“In the context where the issue of housing remains a priority in our region, it is essential to use a platform like Facebook to strengthen the link between our organization and Nunavummiut,” said the KMHB’s Josee Levesque.

Over the last year, the KMHB has become a sounding board for the region’s housing problems: Nunavimmiut say they’re frustrated with the lack of available social housing, and those who do have housing say rent is too high and their homes are in urgent need of repair.

Makivik Corp. estimates the region needs 899 new units, although only 80 new homes have been allocated to the region for 2015.

Efforts to stop an annual eight per cent rental hike across the region proved successful this past summer, when the Quebec government agreed to a partial rent freeze and to negotiate a new rent scale for Nunavik.

But that amendment proposed for Quebec’s social housing regulations is still awaiting an endorsement from Quebec’s cabinet, and must be re-issued in the province’s official Gazette before the freeze goes into effect.

Quebec officials say that should happen in the coming weeks.

In the meantime, Nunavik’s social housing tenants can visit the new KMHB page for news or to ask questions in English, French or Inuktitut.

The KMHB said users cannot use pseudonyms to post on the page, nor can users post discriminatory remarks.

KMHB tenants can also visit the Facebook page for the housing agency’s Pivallianiq program, which encourages tenants to take better care of their housing units.