Governments spend millions on housing in the North

POVIRNITUK, Que. - Here's what $588,000 will buy you in Nunavik: a no-frills home with two small bedrooms, a kitchen, a living room and a bathroom. No basement, no second storey.

Housing for Canada's northern people has been a major - and very real - problem for years.

For 14 Inuit communities in Quebec's north, the housing-related price tag for federal and provincial governments runs into the hundreds of millions of dollars.

Ottawa and Quebec recently renewed deal with the Makivik Corp., a non-profit organization tasked with building social housing units in the province's northern Nunavik region.

Under the terms of the deal, $100 million will flow from federal coffers to build 340 new homes in seven communities. Quebec will then spend $100 million in maintenance and operating costs over the next 15 years.

That's not including existing social housing units.

The province now pays about $3,094 a month for each unit to cover maintenance, utilities and other expenses.

It costs a bundle to build the new homes as well.

Building materials need to be ferried to the remote communities by boat or cargo plane. A lack of skilled workers means builders have to be sent up north and given room and board.

The price tag for each home is $588,000. The single storey dwellings are modest - tile floors and a wood fibre exterior with two front windows and one door. No municipal infrastructure means each duplex is equipped with a reservoir for water supply and another for wastewater recovery.

They're meant to shelter one family but a housing shortage means that's rarely the case.

Eligible Nunivak families get the semi-furnished homes with heat and electricity for a maximum rent of $358 a month.

"It could be less and that's often the case," said Jean Boucher, with the Kativik municipal housing office.

Some of the new social housing units, built just two years ago, already need major repairs. They have broken windows, damaged walls and are in general disrepair.

Last year, Quebec poured $111 million into repairing and upgrading 2,293 homes in Nunavik.

The province recently also started eviction procedures against 80 Inuit renters who owe on average $30,000 in unpaid rent.

Nunavik isn't the only region in Canada's North getting money for social housing.

Under the stimulus spending program, Ottawa will pump $200 million over two years to support the construction and maintenance of social housing in northern communities across the country.

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Many Inuit families in Quebec are crammed into homes poorly adapted to their needs. The federal and provincial governments recently renewed a deal to build new housing units in half of the province's northern communities this year.

- Makivik Corp. is a non-profit organization that protects the rights and interests of the Quebec Inuit. It's also tasked with improving housing conditions for the remote communities.

- Makivik owns a number of subsidiary businesses including airlines Air Inuit and First Air, which serve Canada's North.

- Demand for housing in Nunavik has jumped from 533 units in 2003 to 900 in 2008, despite the fact 240 units were built in that period.

- 340 new housing units will be built in Nunavik between 2010 and 2015.

- According to Statistics Canada, 49% of Nunavik Inuit live in overcrowded conditions.

- Makivik estimates about 1,000 new units would be necessary to meet current needs.

- Construction workers flown up north to build the units sign a contract that has them working 42 days straight followed by 10 days off. They're paid $3,275 before taxes for a 70 hour week.

- It costs Quebec an average $3,094 per month in maintenance and operational costs for each housing unit.

- There are currently 80 homeowners who are on average $30,000 behind on their rent - a $2.5 million shortfall for the government.

- There are waiting lists in all 14 communities dotted along Hudson Bay and Ungava Bay for social housing units.