Iqaluit council votes to seek federal housing money
Proposal estimates $8.8M needed to build 160 new units
Iqaluit’s city council voted Tuesday evening direct city staff to apply for funding from the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corp.’s Housing Accelerator Fund. (Photo by Jeff Pelletier)
Iqaluit’s city council voted Tuesday evening to apply for millions of dollars in federal housing money.
The funding would come through the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corp.’s Housing Accelerator Fund – a $4-billion initiative to bolster the housing supply nationwide.
An estimated 160 dwelling units could be built in Iqaluit over three years with $8.8 million from the fund, said city planner Samantha Toffolo in a report to council.
The proposal outlines how the funding request, if approved, can be used to pay for construction and renovation of affordable housing and improvements, transportation infrastructure, water systems, broadband connectivity.
It was provided to council ahead of Tuesday’s meeting.
The application deadline is Aug. 18.
There was no questioning or debate following Toffolo’s presentation.
Deputy Mayor Kyle Sheppard provided a brief comment during the meeting, saying that he’s hopeful the application will be successful.
“There’s nothing more important that we can do as a council than, in any way possible, facilitate new housing construction, and the goals of this program are well-directed and good,” he said.
“The recommended uses of the funding that come from this are diverse, give a lot of flexibility to this council and future councils to allocate these funds to do things like develop new housing, site preparations, offset the cost of land for new developments, as well as do everything else we need to do service those developments.”
Following Sheppard’s comments, councillors unanimously voted to apply for funding.
“An estimated 160 dwelling units could be built in Iqaluit over three years with $8.8 million from the fund”.
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I am sick and tired of people in government talking about dwelling units”.
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Perhaps they mean 160 shelter beds.
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$8.8 million would not pay the city’s land lease fees for 160 single family building lots, if the city had that many building lots.
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The City’s land lease fees are supposed to repay the money the City paid to service the lots. So who is paying the lot development costs? Or will these “dwelling units” be built on unserviced lots?
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Jeff, did you ask what is to be built with this money, where it is to be built, or who is to do the building?
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The people who built their summer houses beside Silvia Grinell could probably build 160 similar units if given $8.8 million of building materials and land to build on. Maybe that’s the plan.
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The housing is needed. Accurate information is also needed.
$55k per unit? …LOL
Your comments demonstrate a woeful lack of understanding of construction & housing.
The city of Iqaluit does not have any building lots, except where existing houses are being torn down.
The reason Iqaluit has no building lots is because it is broke.
The reason Iqaluit is broke is because the people who voted to build the swimming pool did not pay for the swimming pool, even though it was supposed to be a rate-payer bond issue.
By spending all the city’s money on that pool and leaving Iqaluit in debt, Iqaluit could not develop the building lots needed by its citizens.
Not having any building lots prevents the building of new houses.
The shortage of houses drives up the value of the houses already in Iqaluit.
And who were the only people where allowed to vote to build that swimming pool? The people whose house value would go up because few new houses would be built in future years.
Jeff, you could investigate that story, too.
The heart of the matter seems to revolve around priorities in city funding and development. The decision by the Iqaluit city authorities to finance a project as specific as a swimming pool, while essential infrastructure like water systems (which last time I checked you need for a pool) faced challenges, raises questions about budgetary and development priorities.
Water and sanitation infrastructure is a foundational component of a city’s wellbeing, directly impacting every resident, regardless of age, income, or other factors. These services are not just commodities; they’re fundamental rights. On the other hand, while a swimming pool serves recreational and potentially health-related needs, it’s more user-specific and doesn’t have the universal demand and necessity that water infrastructure does.
The lack of initiative from the city to pursue loans or set aside a rainy-day fund for critical infrastructure projects, particularly the water situation and the failing utilidor system, is concerning, and is what has put us in this development stall. It suggests an oversight in long-term planning and risk management.
Also, assuming that only those who would benefit from an increase in house values voted for the pool might not provide a holistic picture. The decision to build public infrastructure often comes from a variety of reasons, including public interest, community development, and other socio-economic factors.
Given these challenges, it’s imperative for the city of Iqaluit to not only explore all available avenues to enhance housing options but also to address its water infrastructure deficiencies, as this is a foundational step towards facilitating sustainable housing development.
I can assure you that the swimming pool is not the cause of these issues. The swimming pool cost nothing compared to what the city pays for projects annually.
Umingmak,
Please enlighten us.
Please tell us the cause of these issues.
The city’s spending is a matter of public knowledge. All of their meeting minutes are available online, as are their tender packages, tender awards, costs of projects, etc. Go to the city website. The aquatic centre wasn’t cheap, but they spend far more money every year on roads, water, sewage, etc upgrade projects.
The Aquatic Center cost ~$40M, almost exactly the same as the city spends on everything in a single year (total operating expenses).
Sheppard was originally elected on a promise to greenlight tiny homes, I’d be interested in an update.
# of Dwelling units (apartment units, houses, condo units) is how CMHC evaluates different proposals. We need to show their money will get combined with other money and have a big impact, the bigger the number of dwelling unit the more likely they are to fund us. No one is saying units can be built for $55K, they’re saying an extra $55K in funding per unit will get those units built.
The pool must have cost well in excess of $50 million to build and probably more than $5 million each year to operate.
City’s annual operating budget is around $60 million
“All Comes Back to Water”‘s comment seems to have a little merit, Umingmak
Have you seen how crowded the aquatic centre is? How can you deny the benefit that it provides to the community?
$55,000 per dwelling? Did I read that right?
Nunavut’s average building rates is now averaging $800-$1000 per square foot depending which community.
Each dwelling would be 55-70 square ft
Maybe the city is applying to use the money to develop lots to be used for 160 dwellings.
Shoddy story….journalist need to learn to ask more questions before printing stories.
Constructing housing units without upgrading the current infrastructure would be a foolish waste of time, money, and resources. The current system can’t support what is here now, therefore, how does the city expect it to handle this critical issue? It’s a fools errand when you try to put the cart before the horse. Get a clear plan in place first!!
Funny how quickly people leap to blame.
Let’s see the proposal and what they are building before we leap to point fingers at causes.
At this point we know nothing.
NTI has been sitting on 400 million dollars for housing from the feds for the last 2-3 years now, why not get some or all of that funding from NTI to build the badly needed housing?
Is the money sitting in NTI’s bank account?
Cannot find anything in the media about NTI getting $400 million from the federal government for housing.
https://www.canada.ca/en/indigenous-services-canada/news/2022/04/a-total-of-43-billion-in-indigenous-housing-investments-earmarked-in-budget-2022.html
There is this that I found that money has been ear marked for indigenous housing but nothing regarding NTI.
Hard to find anything on housing specific dollar amount for NTI, but it does sound like they have millions set aside for affordable housing from a few years ago.
https://www.itk.ca/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/20190624-ITK-budget-analysis.pdf
Funny they don’t report on this and let us know what is going on.
Every organisation known to man operating in Nunavut is asking the same government for funding for Housing.
Hard to argue with good intentions but can we get all these people to look at their respective mandates and see a bit of coordination in these well intentioned demands
Before you stand on your soap box and claim higher plans can we see what the concrete basis is all about ?
Roads, availibility of land ,power and municipal services that will be needed for these houses. Then availibility of man power to do the actual construction and maintenance. Then administrative capacity to manage all that new pool of houses.
Did I say anything about actual policies for awarding these houses fairly ?????
Let`s not put the cart in front of the horse please.
Think it out first and act after a serious plan is in place.
Thank you
Pay your rent. DUH!
Of course. (Surprise. Surprise.)