MLA committee wants 75 new housing units this year

SEAN McKIBBON
Nunatsiaq News

IQALUIT — Nunavut needs to fix its housing shortage now, not in seven months, says Nunavut’s standing committee on housing.

“It’s time we put our money where our mouth is,” said the committee’s chair, Arviat MLA Kevin O’Brien.

With 678 families in Nunavut on waiting lists for new housing, there is no time for delay, he said.

A proposal by the new housing minister, Manitok Thompson, to do a seven month review of the shortage with a special task force will take far too long, he said.

“We know what the problems are. We don’t need any more studies,” said O’Brien.

The committee, (which includes Nattilik MLA Uriash Puqiqnak, Baker Lake MLA Glen MacLean and Amittuq MLA Enoki Irqittuq), are recommending the government immediately buy materials to build 75 new social housing units and start site preparation immediately.

O’Brien estimates the materials would cost between $8 million and $10 million, and that construction would cost another $9 million.

Use unpaid salary money

O’Brien says money for building materials could come from unpaid staff salary money caused by the large number of vacant positions within the Nunavut government.

He said that the hiring process for new Nunavut government jobs is way behind schedule and money that hasn’t been spent on salaries, relocations and benefits for these empty positions could be better spent on housing.

The money for constructing ther 75 new units could come out of next year’s Nunavut government budget, O’Brien said.

O’Brien’s committee also recommended a six-month freeze on rents for seasonal workers and employment insurance recipients. O’Brien said that because of the sociual housing rent scale, the temporary windfall brought on by seasonal wages can send rents sky high.

He said that a trial balloon floated by Thompson about a flat rent for all social housing tenants had scared a lot of people, and that the issue needs to be re-examined.

Homeownership changes

The committee also recommended that for the rest of this year, the Nunavut government should hand out grants of up to $40,000 for first-time home buyers instead of the 70 per cent subsidy that some first-time home buyers can qualify for.

“We’re trying to get people affordable housing here, not castles.” O’Brien said.

He said the 70 per cent formula has been prompting some higher income earners to buy houses far beyond their means at the territorial government’s expense.

While admitting that some of his committee’s recommendations might cost the government money, O’Brien said the Nunavut government has to do something.

“If we come out at the end of the year with a surplus we’re going to look ridiculous,” said O’Brien. He said it would be easier to go to the federal government for more money if the territory had already spent what it had.

“I’m not saying we have buckets of money but we should find out what we do have and put it where we’re all saying the number one priority is.”