Ambitious plan to create 3,000 homes announced in Nunavut

Lorne Kusugak is the MLA for Rankin Inlet South, and serves as Nunavut’s minister of housing. Two organizations have announced a plan to make 3,000 homes in the territory by 2030. Kusugak says he’s ‘humbled’ by how quickly a plan for more housing has come together. (Jacqueline McKay/CBC)

News release does not say how housing project will be funded

An ambitious housing plan for Nunavut was laid out on Tuesday.

Two organizations — the government-operated Nunavut Housing Corporation (NHC) and Inuit-owned NCC Development Limited (NCCD) — announced a plan to make 3,000 homes by 2030.

The signing of the partnership agreement is part of Igluliuqatigiingniq, a name that means building houses together. It’s also referred to as the Nunavut 3000 Strategy.

In a joint news release, the organizations said the agreement combines their strengths in delivering more housing for Nunavummiut.

The release said NCCD will deliver up to 2,000 new housing units across the territory. This past spring, the Nunavut government committed to develop at least 1,000 housing units.

“Our organization’s mission is to mobilize northern resources to build facilities by and for Nunavummiut,” said NCCD chairperson Harry Flaherty in a statement.

The news release does not say how the housing project will be funded.

Housing in Pond Inlet, Nunavut, in October 2022. (David Gunn/CBC)

Housing has been a long-time issue in Nunavut, with about 3,545 households in need of housing as of a 2020 territorial report.

NHC Minister Lorne Kusugak said Tuesday he is “humbled by the swiftness of how this plan came together.: In a statement, he said Nunavut is “committed to being accountable and transparent” to residents when it comes to housing. “Together, with NCCD and the Government of Nunavut, we will fulfill the promise of Nunavut by creating new housing in all communities.

“We’re not just building units, we’re building homes, we’re building security, we’re building stability for now and future generations,” he said.

In the NHC’s 2020-21 annual report, it says construction on 20 public housing units and 12 staff housing units were completed that fiscal year. Several construction projects, including housing, have since been cancelled due to rising costs.

The territory also says it spent more than $26 million to deal with mould in public housing since 2016, and it added $7 million to manage mould in its 2022-23 budget.

According to Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami, which represents Inuit across Canada, it will take about $3 billion over the next decade to build and repair existing housing across Inuit Nunangat — which includes Inuit territory in N.W.T., Nunavut, northern Quebec and Newfoundland and Labrador.

-With files from the Canadian Press

Related stories from around the North: 

Canada: Government in Canada’s Arctic Nunavut territory shelves infrastructure, housing projects over construction costs, CBC News

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