Opposed to rent increases in Nunavik

I don’t understand why we are subject to southern standards with the high cost of maintaining houses.

I hope the Kativik Municipal Housing Bureau will help with the on-going maintenance problems and expenses of a new home once social housing begins to push out the higher income earners into the erroneous affordable homeownership program.

Why should the higher income earners be forced to have a lower standard of living after what they have accomplished (school, job experience etc.)?

There are barely any maintenance companies who would help with the general on-going maintenance of the house, which would be considered a hidden cost since the maintenance for the social housing is done by the KMHB. I have just graduated from university and it seems that it is beginning to not pay-off, since my income will be subject to scales and scrutiny.

We cannot be compared to the South and their rent scales because there are maintenance companies with competitive prices that are affordable to acquire and maintain their homes. This seemingly unnoticed aspect was not considered when they wanted to push homeownership in Nunavik.

If the 10-year rent hike is beginning next year, then you will see more higher educated Inuit looking for lower-paying jobs, possibly more people on welfare and more and more angry tenants not paying their rent arrears, which will be going higher at a faster rate.

More non-Inuit will be sent up north from the south to do work and be housed in a newly furnished home by their employers. The housing situation is bad in Nunavik with the many homes housing several families. If the rent scale will be following the income of the household, then a home may be paying an enormous amount without enjoying the benefits of an actual home that should be composed of one or at the very most two families.

The benefits are decreasing while the costs are increasing. There will be many, many angered tenants down the road with higher and higher arrears. These scales are obviously done by non-Inuit who do not know the actual facts and extra hidden expenses of living in the north with every expense taxed at every level from cargo expenses for materials, to the services of having a maintenance man work for $40 to $50 an hour.

Tommy Palliser
Inukjuaq