Who gets housing?

Several MLAs had questions for Housing Minister Peter Kilabuk as they looked at how his department determines which communities get housing in this year’s capital plan.

Kilabuk is implementing a new strategy whereby seven communities will get up to 15 units this year, while other communities will get less than 10. Who gets the most units is determined by a ranking system that takes into account a community’s housing shortage, the number of children in households, and the number of people in households.

Rankin Inlet North MLA Tagak Curley, whose community came 17th on the list, suggested taking one more factor into consideration.

“I think there should be incentive programs for ranking systems so that communities that have the least arrears and the most efficient maintenance should be rewarded,” he said.

Kilabuk agreed.