Shelter - Home Repairs
Data from the 2021 census show almost a third of the nearly 49,000 Inuit who call Inuit Nunangat home were living in dwellings in need of major repairs, an increase of 1.2 per cent since 2016. The increase, though small, clearly shows that current efforts are not fixing the problem.
Housing issues in Northern Canada are made worse by the cold and changing climate, a lack of transportation infrastructure, a short construction season, and high costs.
Living in poor housing conditions has been linked to the spread of disease, chronic illness, poor mental health and family violence, and can contribute to poor socio-economic outcomes. A 2019 study in the Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health found it to be a factor in the disproportionately high rates of tuberculosis among Inuit.
The 2022 federal budget promised $150 million between 2022 and 2024 to support affordable housing and related infrastructure in the North, including $60 million each to N.W.T. and Nunavut. It also included $845 million over seven years for housing in Inuit communities and plans to co-develop and launch a northern, urban and rural Indigenous housing strategy.
In a 2022 pre-budget submission, Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami, an organization representing Inuit in Canada, said it would take more than $3 billion over the next decade to construct needed new housing and maintain and repair existing homes in Inuit Nunangat.
The Nunavut Housing Corporation reported that between 2016-21 alone they had spent more than $26 million to deal with black mould in public housing.
The figures are staggering.
The problem is immense.
Local communities don't have the resources to solve the problems and the federal government can only do so much.
This is where Promise for the North can be of tremendous help.
By combining government grants with donations, sponsorships, and foundation monies, we can bring more resources to bear.
By acquiring material and labour at charitable rates, we can stretch that money even further.
By collaborating with existing government housing authorities and with Indigenous leaders, we can ensure each dollar and each hour are spent in the most effective way.
By working with each individual community, we can identify the homes in most need of repair and quickly focus on doing the most good.
As an independent charity, we can focus our efforts on all types of housing. For public housing, we can work with local housing authorities to alleviate their backlog of needed repairs. For private housing, we can work directly with families in need, repairing their homes where insurance either won’t or is working through backlog and administrative burden.
For each community that asks for our help, we will meet with leaders, develop a detailed list of all repairs needed, acquire all of the materials needed, and use the summer season to complete as much work as possible. We will hire certified contractor companies at charitable rates, and pay them to employ local residents as apprentices, providing employment and a path to long term careers that will help both the worker and the whole community.
