Nunavut Housing Corp. toured 17 communities in September. From left are Chrystal Fuller, of Brighter Community planning and consulting; Marty Kuluguqtuq, senior administrative officer for Grise Fiord; and Grise Fiord Coun. Laisa Audlaluk-Watsko. (Photo courtesy of Nunavut Housing Corp.)
Community tour part of effort to push forward Nunavut 3000
Nunavut Housing Corp. visiting 10 hamlets in effort to help build housing units across the territory
Nunavut Housing Corp. is going on a tour of 10 hamlets as part of the Government of Nunavut’s effort to build 3,000 housing units across the territory by 2030.
The travel, from July 2 to 19, is intended to help the housing corporation identify the “most efficient use” of resources to work toward that goal, said Juanie Pudluk, associate president of Nunavut Housing Corp., in an interview Wednesday.
The plan is to secure the lots for the 2025 construction year, make sure they are appropriate for development, and get input from people in the communities, he said.
Once the lots are selected, the corporation will have to get development and building permits under local bylaws.
With the community tour in July, Nunavut Housing Corp. is trying to push forward the development of housing to “alleviate the housing crisis,” said associate president Juanie Pudluk. (Photo by Arty Sarkisian)
This is the housing corporation’s second tour like this. The previous one was organized in September and included 17 communities.
The Nunavut government and Nunavut Housing Corp. announced Nunavut 3000 in 2022.
As an example of the need for more housing in the territory, 35 per cent of Nunavut homes do not have enough bedrooms for their occupants, compared to five per cent nationally, according to a 2020 report by Nunavut Tunngavik Inc.
Nunavut Housing Corp. and NCC Development Ltd. are directly responsible for construction of almost half of all the planned houses. Around 1,400 of the units are pegged for public housing.
Approximately 900 will be co-investments between Nunavut Housing Corp. and partners such as Inuit organizations, not-for-profits, community organizations and private-sector companies.
And around 400 will be delivered “with limited if any, public investment,” according to the Nunavut 3000 public plan.
The entire project is estimated to cost $2.6 billion, with $900 million from the private sector and the rest covered by governments and Inuit organizations.
Pudluk said the housing corporation is trying to make it easier for developers to build the houses Nunavut so desperately needs.
Nunavut Housing Corp. is prompting municipalities to work “faster than they normally would” to prepare land for a target number of houses that will be used for both public and private developments, said Chrystal Fuller, owner and principal of planning and consulting company Brighter Community, which was hired for this project.
Fuller took part in the September tour and is managing the upcoming tour as well.
She said even though the tour is a significant investment of time and resources, the cost of making a mistake on the ground would be much higher.
“We don’t want to choose a lot on a piece of paper and then get in there and see that it’s going take $600,000 or a significant amount of work to build on it,” she said.
“Or it’s in the wrong location, or it’s where the dog teams are kept for the community. It’s really important to forge those connections with the hamlets, because they’re critical partners.”
There will be no public meetings with the communities, but Fuller said the team welcomes any “accidental conversations” on the streets.
“When can we move in?” is one of the most common questions she gets on the ground.
“Mostly, what I heard was, ‘We really want these units, we want them, we need them, we’re desperate for them.'”
For more specific feedback, Fuller said people should talk to their local hamlet staff.
Representatives from Nunavut Housing Corp., NCC Development Ltd., and the Department of Community and Government Services will be travelling, along with a representative from partnership organizations Nunavut Tunngavik Inc. and the Nunavut Association of Municipalities.
Nunavut Housing Corp. is visiting 10 hamlets across Nunavut from July 2 to 19 (Image created by Arty Sarkisian)
The complete list of municipalities include:
- Rankin Inlet, July 2-5
- Arviat, July 5-8
- Baker Lake, July 8-10
- Kugluktuk, July 11-12
- Cambridge Bay, July 11-12
- Gjoa Haven, July 12-13
- Taloyoak, July 13-15
- Arctic Bay, July 15-17
- Pangnirtung, July 17-18
- Kinngait, July 18-19
I totally agree with the GN Housing 3000 goal.
But at the cost of chartered flights hotels meals and honoraria I am forced to ask at what cost and what product will be achieved after these two tours ?
So the NHC project officer used to travel regularly to communities, do inspections, meet with LHO and Hamlet, plan for the following years for lots for the expected units to be allocated. Look at writing off burned units or old anoracs and 512, ntrs, there was planing. Does NHC no longer have staff? Perhaps they sit at thier desk pecking away at thier computer hoping all the required knowledge of the community will miraculously appear. You gotta get out and do the work and get to know thee community and the staff who work there. You might learn something.
Public units are well looked after, housing maintenance, renovations easy jobs by funders. Easy for people and Inuit living in same territory who needs place and encourage people to move in to those units.
Huh? 😜
Hasn’t this been done over and over the last few decades? Meetings and same old meetings.
Isn’t the Nunavut Housing Corp. the big cheese of Housing in Nunavut? Why do they need to run a tour? Teleconferences work. Errr.. wait.(That’s NorthwesTel) Or do these Nunavut money pit organizations need to rack up travel points?
Bring back Yellowknife
The bottlenecks to construction will be not enough land lots developed, not enough electrical inspectors(playing out now), not enough building inspectors, not enough northern and southern workers to work simultaneously in all 25 communities, possible lack of quality control. With the addition of 2 sealift ships there should be enough shipping. Hoping that history will not repeat itself and go over budget by 100s of millions of dollars. NHC will have to ramp up the area of financial analysts and oversight. Good luck to NHC and those who need these new homes.
NHC. How about collecting rent from tenants before traipsing around Nunavut on a subject studied endlessly over the decades.
as a taxpayer I do not support this travel. expensive. spend it wisely towards housing and not staff visits. we already know and gn employees on the ground can assist.
Nest way to tackle housing is to give nunavumiut a real chance of buying a house especially here in Iqaluit. Too many southerners buying up the market and reselling at a higher price, less then 2000 square feet that goes close to a million dollar. I’d give up a few of my beneficiaries for something like Buy a House Program for beneficiaries
$2.6 billion? with that sorta budget its hard to make a mistake. Or at least a mistake thats noticeable. anyways nhc needs to make community visits. the inuk need to choose the house style they want. interior paint color, type of appliances, deck or not? over looking the bay, snow machine shed. just like regular home buyers. LOL