KRG councillors divvy up social housing for 2005

The Kativik Regional Government’s councillors decided during their recent meeting in Kuujjuaq which Nunavik communities should receive 48 new social housing units built by Makivik Corp.

The councillors based their decision on the number of bedrooms needed by each community in Nunavik.

Overall, the region needs 13 per cent more bedrooms to meet the need for more housing, but the communities with the greatest need for more space are Kuujjuaq, Kangiqsualujjuaq, Kangiqsujuaq and Akulivik.

Kuujjuaq, Nunavik’s largest community, needs 22 per cent more bedrooms.

The councillors decided Kuujjuaq would receive 26 new housing units, Kangiqsualujjuaq, 12, Kangiqsujuaq, six, and Akulivik, four.

The additional housing will lower Kuujjuaq’s housing needs by four per cent.

The next step, Kuujjuaq mayor Michael Gordon said, should be to increase the community’s operational subsidy from Quebec’s department of municipal affairs, which Gordon now says is “out of whack.”

A small percentage increase this year ended a long freeze. It’s still less than the allotment for other smaller-sized communities or, as they’re called in Nunavik, Northern Villages.

“It’s the lowest of all the villages. Last year it was $189,000. The next closest village was $320,000,” Gordon said. “We’ve grown and they’re not taking into account the new houses, new buildings.”

This summer 24 social housing units are being built in Nunavik. The two-bedroom duplex units will be divided equally between Kuujjuaq, Kangirsuk and Inukjuak.