New director general hopes to revitalize Nunavik Housing Bureau

Nunavik Housing Bureau’s new director general says he hopes to revitalize the organization by modernizing internal processes and finding more ways to improve housing for Nunavimmiut.

Lupin Daignault was appointed to the role on Oct. 9.

He said he remembers when he travelled to the Democratic Republic of the Congo for one year when he was 26 years old as a humanitarian worker.

“When I came back, I realized the impact this had on my existence, it changed my life completely,” he said in a French interview.

When Daignault returned to Canada, he worked with multiple non-profit housing organizations in Montreal and Levis, Que., until he set his eyes on the North.

“I am not someone that is too interested in big cities,” he said, adding the regions was a “better fit” for his personality.

In 2021, Daignault joined the Nunavik Housing Bureau as assistant director of real estate and renovation, then became director soon after.

“I have been working in construction, with my bag of nails, since I was 20 years old,” he said. “That is how I started in this field, and today in the position I am now my profile is fixed on operations.”

According to the housing bureau’s latest annual report, it maintains more than 4,000 homes across the territory, housing 98 per cent of Nunavimmiut. It employs about 250 people.

“What I want is for our operations to speak for themselves,” Daignault said, adding that although there are politics and planning involved in running a large organization, “the bottom line is our operations.”

He noted most of the bureau’s employees work in its maintenance department.

“These people are at the frontlines, they are the people that renters see,” he said.

According to the annual report, just under 65 per cent of the 23,000 work orders for maintenance the bureau received in 2023 were completed within a day, and more than 74 per cent were done within five days. Twenty-two per cent took more than 10 days to finish.

The bureau spent $25 million on maintenance work last year.

In his new job, Daignault said he wants to increase the bureau’s presence in the communities.

“We can’t be in our ivory tower in Kuujjuaq,” he said.

“People in all 14 communities need to feel our presence, our support, and that we are there for others.”

He said the bureau is “at a crossroads” where it needs to make some changes in processes. Daignault pointed to three changes in particular he intends to make within his first year — modernizing the system for employee travel, finances and payroll. Those changes alone, he said, will improve the fluidity of operations drastically.

“I can make all the promises today, but let’s speak again in three years to see what we succeeded in doing,” Daignault said.

Along with Daignault’s appointment, the housing bureau also announced a new strategic plan that is intended to last until 2026.

The plan’s aim is to develop a client-focused culture with improved efficiency, sustainability, development and employee experience, and being mindful of sustainable development and climate change.

Daignault said one idea, noted in the annual report, is possibly reinventing home ownership in Nunavik by offering more options such as co-operative housing or renting with options to buy.

Besides rental, the only other option currently available is a home ownership assistance program that has helped 87 families across the region build their own homes.

“I would like to evaluate these options, and have [the bureau] as a facilitator for clients,” he said.