Nunavik’s fall evictions postponed until spring

As officials from the Kativik Municipal Housing Bureau took their seats in front of the Kativik Regional Government council in Kuujjuaq on Sept. 12, council chairperson Jennifer Munick delivered some good news.

“Last week we had a meeting with the executive of KMHB and we asked that the evictions not be done in the fall when the weather is getting colder and it’s snowing,” she said.

“On Friday, they reported back to us … they will not do evictions in the fall of 2019. It was postponed to the spring of 2020 and they have decided when they do evictions, they will do it in the springtime.”

The housing bureau told Nunatsiaq News in August the second round of evictions for the year would take place in September, but this change was welcomed by councillors who voiced concerns about the people in their communities with no place to go.

Marie-France Brisson, the housing bureau’s director general, said between 93 and 97 per cent of tenants in most communities are now paying their rent and avoiding eviction.

Evictions totalled 16 per cent of 3,500 units, the bureau’s director of client services, Jean-Denis Parent, told council. That’s about 560 units.

Evictions occur in cases where tenants consistently neglect to pay rent or work with the bureau to set out a plan for payment after between eight and 15 points of contact, in letters and in person.

“We do not want to go on with evictions, it’s not something we appreciate doing,” said Brisson. “We fully understand the impacts but to be fair to families who are paying their rent we have to do it.”

There are still 931 housing units needed across the region.

In 2020, Brisson told council, 54 houses will be built by Makivik Corp., among six communities: Kangiqsualujjuaq (12), Kangiqsujuaq (8), Kuujjuarapik (12), Puvirnituq (8), Salluit (2) and Umiujaq (12).

The majority of new-builds are one and two-bedroom homes, as well as 10 three-bedroom units set for construction in 2020.

“There are many single people and young couples in general looking for a housing unit,” Brisson told council. “There are 781 families requesting a one-bedroom apartment.”

According to the bureau’s accounting, the need for housing is highest in Puvirnituq, which is short 207 units, followed by Salluit at 136. Kuujjuaq is short 109 houses and Inukjuak, 96.

Many councillors were concerned about the housing deficits that remain, particularly those from communities not slated for new builds this year.

“What we’re trying to do is build houses where there haven’t been any built in previous years,” said KRG director general Michael Gordon. “We’re trying to build where the need is.”

It is the KRG that determines how houses are allotted, Gordon explained, and then they are built by Makivik and managed by the housing bureau.

Construction is focused on just six or seven communities each year to make the most of the budget available to the development corporation.

In presenting the bureau’s annual plan, Brisson said the goal is to move away from housing being viewed as “units,” to a place where tenants feel like they have a “home.”

A new program under the housing bureau offers a 75 per cent subsidy on buying or building a new home in Nunavik. The program will support 45 private homeowners over the next five years and has seen successful applicants since it launched in December.

As well, the bureau is working on a rent-to-own program whereby a tenant would rent a unit, managed by the bureau for 15 years, at which point they would own it.

Executive council member Sarolli Weetaluktuk of Inukjuak said he is concerned that money set aside for the homeownership program could have been put into building new rentals, when there is still a need.

He reminded the representatives from the bureau that the provision of housing is a requirement of the Government of Quebec.

“What does it say in the James Bay and Northern Quebec Agreement? It says the Quebec government will be in charge of the tenants, in charge of providing housing and housing needs,” he said, rising to stand.

“When you go before the government concerning home ownership, I believe you have to base it on the James Bay and Northern Quebec Agreement.”