Akesuk unveils new housing allocations

JOHN THOMPSON

Olayuk Akesuk, the housing minister, released details this week explaining how the Government of Nunavut plans to spread $200 million in federal housing money around the territory over the next three years.

Iqaluit will receive 57 of the 725 units, followed by Arviat and Baker Lake, which will each get 52 units.

The GN plans to give Rankin Inlet and Igloolik 41 units each, Pangnirtung 40 units, and Pond Inlet and Cape Dorset 36 units.

The rest of the allocations are as follows:

Kugluktuk, 34 units; Cambridge Bay, 33 units; Gjoa Haven, 32 units; Taloyoak, 30 units; Clyde River, 29 units; Sanikiluaq, 27 units; Repulse Bay, 26 units; Hall Beach, 25 units; Arctic Bay and Coral Harbour, 24 units; Kugaaruk, 22; Qikiqtarjuaq, 21; Kimmirut, 10; Chesterfield Inlet and Whale Cove, 10; and Resolute Bay and Grise Fiord, six.

Most of these homes will be designed as multiplex units, to make the most of the money, Akesuk said during an interview on Tuesday.

But details won’t be revealed until after this summer, after the GN conducts consultations in each of Nunavut’s communities about housing needs, Akesuk said.

“We can’t make everyone happy,” Akesuk said, but added “725 units will go a long way with our needs.”

In this summer’s sealift season, about $11 million in supplies will be shipped north to build a five-plex in each community in Nunavut except Grise Fiord, Whale Cove and Chesterfield Inlet, which will receive duplexes.

But most residents won’t hear the sounds of banging nails and sawing wood for these homes until early 2007, when construction is slated to start.

The $200 million comes from a Northern Housing Trust, set up in response to arrangements announced last November by former prime minister Paul Martin, at a first ministers’ meeting in Kelowna, B.C.

At Kelowna, the outgoing Liberal government promised to meet 35 per cent of Nunavut’s housing needs within five years. The $200 million promised by the Conservatives meets less than 20 per cent of Nunavut’s needs.

But it’s plenty more than the GN could afford to build by itself.

Akesuk said he still plans to pursue the federal government for the full amount that the GN needs to build the 3,000 units it needs to meet its social housing shorfall, at a cost of at least $1.9 billion.

“It’s like a downpayment for us,” he said of the $200 million. “We’re still going to fight the federal government for more housing.”

“We still need 2,500 more units.”

When the federal government announced the $200 million, it was expected to purchase 800 housing units.

But since then the cost of shipping supplies north on the sealift has risen, pushed upwards by increased fuel prices, leaving the GN with the new total of 725 units.

As well, the GN plans to launch a new apprenticeship program for carpenters, electricians and plumbers to work on building these new homes.

Akesuk said the goal of the training program, a joint initiative between the Nunavut Housing Corporation and the Department of Education, is to produce 35 to 40 of these tradespeople by the end of the three years.

The program should be launched either this fall or early next year, Akesuk said – in either case, in time for the next wave of construction. “That’s our aim,” Akesuk said.

The goal of the program is to produce tradespeople who could work for housing authorities in their home communities to maintain existing housing units and build future units, Akesuk said.

The GN has yet to get money to pay for the program, however. Akesuk said the GN is pressing the federal government for more money.