Better water delivery will ease Iqaluit’s housing shortage, resident says
City open house offers glimpse of water infrastructure upgrade plan, receives feedback
Residents look at the maps and discuss Iqaluit’s future water infrastructure during a public meeting at the Elders Qammaq on Friday. (Photo by David Lochead)
Janna MacLachlan hopes an upgraded water supply system will help ease Iqaluit’s lack of housing.
“There are overcrowding rates [in Iqaluit] that can’t be addressed because of lack of housing, and to me it always comes back to water,” MacLachlan said at a public consultation last Friday on Iqaluit’s plan to spend more than $200 million to upgrade the city’s water infrastructure.
She was one of a few dozen people who attended a meeting at the Elders Qammaq on the city’s plan.
Friday’s session was the second of two public consultations organized by the city. The first was held last Wednesday.
MacLachlan, who lives in a one-bedroom apartment with her partner Nick Wagman and their young child, said the lack of available housing is limiting their ability to expand as a family.
“For us personally, this part of our figuring out what we’re doing,” MacLachlan said.
Iqaluit-Tasiluk MLA George Hickes told Nunatsiaq News he was there to talk with staff from Colliers, the city’s management consultants, about the infrastructure plan and to hear what residents think of it.
He said he understands the plans are at a rough draft stage at this point and more steps are needed. But it was good to see maps of the plan.
A map that showed the trouble spots Iqaluit has had in providing clean drinking water was “pretty eye-opening,” Hickes said.
Looking over a map of the city’s current water infrastructure with a Colliers consultant, Hickes pointed to some pipes in his area of Lower Iqaluit that are too short to allow water to circulate properly.
That has led to water not circulating well enough in the winter and the pipes freezing up, Colliers project manager Ian McBean confirmed. He said the new water plan will avoid problems like that.
A design consultant for the water project will be hired next month, city spokesperson Kent Driscoll previously told Nunatsiaq News.
The two public sessions also included preliminary information on the city’s plan to open a new reservoir as well as on possible pipeline systems and routes, and whether parts of the city that currently rely on trucked water will be connected to the new municipal delivery system.
The upgrade, relying largely on federal funding, was required after two separate contamination incidents in late 2021 and early 2022 forced the city’s water treatment plant to be taken offline for nearly 18 months until it came back online on April 25.
Despite a significant housing shortage and high overcrowding rates, the city has not adequately prioritized the development of private family homes. The city has previously cited water availability as a reason for the inability to build new subdivisions for private family homes. However, since this pronouncement, we’ve seen developers like NCC, Northview, Mrdjenovich, Nunastar, and others embark on the construction of high-density rental properties.
This scenario raises important questions about the city’s commitment to fostering a stable, rooted community. The focus on high-density rental properties, while increasing the housing stock, favors transient populations, GN/Federal rentals and does not encourage long-term residency or the development of strong community ties. High-density rentals also tend to put upward pressure on rental prices, contributing to inflation and making it even harder for families to transition from renters to homeowners.
Moving forward, the city should reassess its priorities and policies to stimulate the private housing market. There is a need for more housing lots for private family homes, not just high-density rentals.
You should run for city council. I mean that genuinely.
This morning when I saw the article I couldn’t figure out how the water supply would help decrease the housing woes of Iqaluit because the article doesn’t cover it. After reading your comment, it makes complete sense how the water supply affects housing.