Housing materials could arrive this summer

SARA MINOGUE

By next Wednesday, the Nunavut Housing Corp. will know whether they’ll get material for new housing units into the territory during this shipping season.

That’s the closing date for a tender to supply housing materials.

That tender, issued about a month ago, originally sought materials for 10 public housing units and three staff housing units – one each in Hall Beach, Iqaluit, Cambridge Bay, Baker Lake and Rankin, two in Kugaaruk and Arviat and four in Coral Harbour – by May 8.

But after the federal budget, which included $200 million for housing in Nunavut, the housing corporation included more materials and extended the tender deadline to May 17.

“We expect, but we can’t be sure, that our suppliers can comply with the dockside deadlines,” said Peter Scott, the corporation’s president.

“We won’t know until we close the tenders and can confirm with the suppliers that they can indeed meet the deadlines. We’re fairly optimistic that they can at this point, based on feedback from the suppliers.”

The Government of Nunavut won’t announce where the houses will go, or how many will be built, until the tender is closed.

The Nunavut Housing Corp. is already working on community construction plans, Scott said.

The federal money won’t flow until at least September. In the meantime, the corporation or the GN will provide the cash to pay for the materials, if they have to.

“We don’t have to pay for the materials until August or September, when they’re on the dockside or on the high water mark,” Scott said. “We either use a bit of our working capital, or the GN can cash-flow us until the federal money flows.”

While $200 million is a lot of money, Scott said it’s important to note that the funding doesn’t come close to meeting the demand.

Every year, Nunavut needs 274 new units to house new families that are forming and the new children that are being born, according to calculations made by the GN and Nunavut Tunngavik Inc.

By the end of three years, that adds up to 822 new units.

In other words, the corporation is only gaining eight units per year.

“We’re not even making a dent on the 3,000 housing units needed with this new money,” Scott said. “But we’re not slipping behind as much as we would without the money.”