Time to overhaul Iqaluit’s land development rules, says city councillor
“This method of land development has to end”
The Joamie Court subdivision ballot draw brought out old frustrations over Iqaluit’s current land administration system. (Photo courtesy of the City of Iqaluit)
Until the City of Iqaluit receives approval for a replacement to its outdated land administration bylaw, residents are stuck with a disappointing system, says one city councillor.
“It’s insanity, does not benefit a representative portion of our city’s population and is literally the least efficient way,” wrote Coun. Kyle Sheppard on Twitter last week, following the city’s recent ballot draw to award residential lots in the new Joamie Court subdivision.
On Monday, Jan. 14, the city announced 19 winners out of almost 60 people.
In his comments, Sheppard focused on the disproportionate number of non-Inuit applicants who win these draws.
The draw already produces a low number of winners, which becomes lower for Inuit households as there are fewer in the running. In the case of Joamie Court, Sheppard outlines the issue: “19 land lots. 63 total ballot entries. Rough estimate of 28% ballots from Inuit.”
“This method of land development has to end,” he said.
The new, replacement bylaw would give preference to Inuit families when awarding residential lots. The new bylaw received second reading by city council on Nov. 27, 2018.
The next step is for the new version to be given to the Government of Nunavut. But that still hasn’t happened yet, according to a city spokesperson.
And, once it does happen, the GN’s review process is expected to take several weeks, if not months, before the bylaw receives the approval of the minister of community and government services, said the city spokesperson.
Afterward, the bylaw will undergo a third and final city council reading before it goes into effect.
The city’s existing land administration bylaw hasn’t changed since 1996.
Sheppard isn’t alone in his frustrations with the current system. Joamie Court lot winner Marlene Angnakak said she’s honoured to have won, but “felt kind of hopeless” when applying. And, despite his success, fellow winner Wade Thoraug agrees it would be more equitable to change the current ranking and distribution system.
The city’s current ballot process splits applicants into first-time homebuyers in Iqaluit and everyone else. The new system would further prioritize first-time homebuyers, in the following order: Iqaluit Inuit, Inuit who’ve lived in Iqaluit for five years, non-Inuit who’ve lived in Iqaluit for five years, non-Inuit who’ve lived in Iqaluit for two years and then a general pool of first-time buyers.
Leftover lots would be available to buyers who already own a home.
The bylaw would also restrict the ballot draw to low-density residential areas, and even then could be passed in favour of a “first come, first served” procedure in certain circumstances.
I disagree with preferences by race. I do not understand why land preferences continue to be put forward given the land claim agreement was supposed to be the be all and end all for this sort of thing.
It has nothing to do with race, it has to do with the disadvantage that most Inuit (especially) those who live in Iqaluit. Your argument doesn’t make sense very clumsy, read what the Nunavut Agreement is about. Now NTI and RIAs are talking about self-government because the current system is now working. This land is an issue is exactly what they are talking about. When people with advantage and privileges are benefitting from a system that is supposed to help the original people (Inuit) of this land it is an injustice. Again Inuit are being left out again for a system that benefits a small group of the population of Nunavut. Again another form of economic apartheid if it was designed or by accident.
I’m just amazed that there was so much interest in those expensive lots. Once you factor in the building costs, those people are going to be in it for a huge amount of money!!!
For the most part, the current system supports speculators.
The current $300 lottery ticket used to cost $150. That’s a money grab by the city, but they need every cent they can get because of the operating costs of that pool.
If you win the lottery you have 2 choices:
1. Negotiate an agreement with a developer. They will build on “your” lot, then buy the lot from you for the cost of construction, the lot lease, plus your “prize” for winning the lottery for them.
2. Get a mortgage to pay the Lot Lease and pay to have a house built on your lot. Live in it for awhile, then hopefully sell it in a few years for a much bigger profit when you move south.
I suspect that everyone who won a Lot already has a place to live in Iqaluit. For them, the win is a bonus from City Hall, though the big winners will be the developers.
But there are an estimated 600 to 700 homeless people in Iqaluit. Some of those are full time GN employees who couch surf every night. Others are Family Assistance recipients who are kept in purpetual poverty by a system that cuts off that Family Assistance if they dare to accumulate any significant amount of money.
None of these people, most of whom have lived in Iqaluit all their lives, has won a lot. These are the Iqalimmiut most in need of a home and the system prevents them from getting one.
A couch surfing GN employee could gamble $300 and win a lot, but then they would have to “give” it to a developer because they could not come up with $100,000 for the city for it’s “Lot Lease”. Yes, the GN offers Down Payment Assistance, etc. But there’s a big difference between theory and practice.
Suppose for a minute that a single, homeless, 20 year-old Family Assistance recipient had decided gamble — to live on 1 meal a day of peanut butter for a month to accumulate the $300 for a city lottery ticket. Suppose that person had “won” a Lot. What next?
Even if some anonimous person had then given the “winner” the $100,000 to pay the City its Lot Lease, would the City let the person put a shipping crate on the Lot and live in it until that person could build a shack on their lot? The city won’t let you build a shack on the lot you won, live in it, and slowly improve it over the years as you save the money to pay for materials.
In reality, no bank will lend you the $100,000 for the Lot Lease unless you have a solid credit history and build a $400,000 house on the Lot.
Inuit may own 10% of Nunavut, but there’s no place for many of them to call home.
Until our systems help those who are most in need, our systems are broken.