KRG, Makivik, closing in on 1,000-unit housing plan

Akulivik is one of five Nunavik communities slated for new social housing unit construction in 2011 — that is, unless the federal and provincial governments approve a catch-up housing program that would see 1,000 prefabs put up across the region over the next five years. (PHOTO BY JANE GEORGE)

AKULIVIK — A 1,000-unit housing catch-up construction program is in the works to help ease Nunavik’s dire social housing shortage.

The KRG and Makivik Corp. appear to be close to sealing a major housing catch-up program with Quebec.

This plan, when signed, would see 1,000 prefabricated units shipped to Nunavik, according to information provided at this past week’s Kativik Regional Government meeting in Akulivik.

A recent survey by the Kativik Municipal Housing Bureau shows Nunavik lacks 995 social housing units just to meet its current needs.

As it stands now, Nunavik gets only from 60 to 100 new social housing units, built by Makivik with money from existing programs— but they’re never enough to a dent in the overall housing shortage, the KMHB says.

The KRG and Makivik say Nunavik’s catch-up housing program must be linked to Quebec premier Jean Charest’s “Plan nord,” his much-touted plan to develop northern Quebec’s “economic potential,” by tapping into its water power and mineral resources.

There’s a disconnect between this Plan nord and Nunavik’s current needs for housing, better firefighting equipment, cheaper transportation and faster internet services, KRG chairperson Maggie Emudluk said at the KRG meeting.

While Quebec focuses on its future, Nunavik faces urgent needs today, Emudluk said.

So Nunavik leaders are pushing the region’s current needs for the development of its “human potential,” along with the long-term economic ambitions of Quebec.

Ottawa has been reluctant to sign on to any major housing catch-up program, so Quebec may forge ahead without federal government participation — at least for the first year.

More than 50 prefab houses are already slated to be shipped to Nunavik from Matane in the Gaspé. These prefabs will be used for health and social services staff housing.

More expensive than Makivik-built housing units, prefabs have the political advantage of boosting the economy of depressed regions like Gaspé in southern Quebec and the practical benefit of quickly solving Nunavik’s housing shortage.

Workers under the KRG’s revamped Sanajiit construction program will be ready to help assemble the prefabricated units.

Money from an existing program to train workers for the Raglan nickel mine has been diverted to this five-year program, which will start recruiting 100 new participants — mainly youth — in 2010 for apprenticeships in the trades.

The 1,000-unit catch-up housing program means Nunavik communities will need more roads and other infrastructure, Frédéric Gagné, the KRG’s director of municipal and public works, told the council meeting in Akulivik.

To deal with this, the KRG is also negotiating a $100-million five-year program with Quebec for improvements to municipal infrastructure.

While they wait for the catch-up housing program, councillors at the Akulivik meeting determined June 3 which communities will receive new social housing units in 2011, built using existing funds.

The problem was that they only had 92 units to hand out to the communities with the greatest needs: Akulivik, Aupaluk, Inukjuak, Kuujjuaq and Tasiujaq.

The KMHB says these communities really need a total of 495 units: 69 in Akulivik, 23 in Aupaluk, 72 in Inukjuak, 203 in Kuujjuaq and 28 in Tasiujaq.

But councillors could only allot 18 duplexes to Akulivik, six duplexes to Aupaluk, 20 duplexes to Inukjuak, 40 duplexes to Kuujjuaq and eight four-bedroom houses to Tasiujaq.

This summer, 78 new units will be built in six communities.

But Watson Fournier, the KMHB’s general manager, told councillors that the current rate of construction can’t meet the demand for housing due to the region’s young and growing population.

The lack of housing forces some people to sleep with relatives or in tents, several councillors said.

The KMHB manages 2,294 social housing units for 10,055 tenants in 14 Nunavik communities.

One in three of these social housing units has more than one family sharing the space and sometimes as many as four families.