Nunavik doles out social housing for 2017, but still awaits federal money

Nunavik’s leaders have indicated that they’re confident that money will come through for social housing in 2017, “but there’s no document on the table yet,” said Watson Fournier, director of the KMHB. (PHOTO BY SARAH ROGERS)

The Kativik Municipal Housing Bureau has allocated social housing units for Nunavik in 2017, in the hope that the federal government will step up to finance them.

The KMHB announced the construction of 60 new units at a meeting of Kativik Regional Government councillors in Quaqtaq earlier this month. The units, all two-bedroom duplexes, are to be distributed among six communities and constructed next summer.

But the region continues to play catch-up on its social housing file, having only just confirmed federal funding for 60 units slated for construction this year.

Makivik Corp. and the KRG have indicated that they’re confident the money will come through for social housing in 2017, “but there’s no document on the table yet,” said Watson Fournier, manager of the KMHB.

The region’s most recent five-year tri-partite housing agreement with the governments of Quebec and Canada ended in March 2015.

Nunavik was trying to negotiate more funding from Ottawa to help pay for a catch-up program to help alleviate the region’s shortage, a need estimated at 1,028 units.

But the then-Conservative government wasn’t ready to sign off on a new agreement, instead proposing a short-term extension to buy more negotiating time.

The KMHB announced the following allocations for 2017, based on which communities had the highest housing deficits:

• 20 units in Salluit;

• 16 units in Inukjuak;

• eight units in Umiujaq;

• eight units in Kangiqsualujjuaq;

• four units in Kangiqsujuaq; and,

• four units in Tasiujaq.

Under the Quebec Liberal government’s re-launched Plan Nord, the province announced money for 70 new units last year, 10 of which are designed for elders.

Sixty of those will be built this summer, while the 10 units destined for elders are still under design.

Quebec hasn’t made any further commitment to housing beyond that, Fournier said.

This year, the KMHB’s parent organization, the Société d’habitation du Québec, approved subsidies for two applicants under its homeownership program, Fournier said, with one home set to be constructed this year, and the other in 2017.

Another three applicants were recently approved for subsidies under the same program to purchase existing homes, all of them in Kuujjuaq.

The program had previously denied subsidies for purchasing existing homes, to the frustration of home owners, who said they had little guarantee of being able to eventually sell their homes.

The homeownership program was designed to encourage more Nunavimmiut to purchase or build their own homes and free up social housing in a region where only about three per cent of Nunavimmiut are current homeowners.

But the subsidies are still not a given; Fournier said those applicants are still being treated on a case-by-case basis.

“They’ve wanted to work on some modifications to improve it, but there have been no formal changes,” he said.

As summer sets in, the KMHB’s biggest project over the coming months is its annual home renovation program.

This year, the housing bureau has $38 million to pay for renovations on social housing units in seven communities, including exterior work like replacing roofs, windows and siding where needed, and interior renovations on flooring, walls and cabinets.