Elsipogtog facing overcrowding crisis due to housing shortage

People in Elsipogtog are calling for immediate action on what they say is a worsening housing crisis, as many band members live in crowded and deteriorating homes while they wait for the council to assign them a place to live.

Crystal Levi, 34, is living out of a suitcase at her grandmother's house on the Mi'kmaqFirst Nation.

Her kids are sleeping on couches in the living room, while she sleeps on a mattress in the unfinished basement.

"It's overwhelming, [we're]just bumping elbows," she said.

"There's so many of us here."

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With Levi, her four children, Levi's grandmother, uncle and nephew, a total of eight people are living in a three-bedroom, two-bathroom home.

It's been like thatfor two months.

Levi applied to the band council for a homemonths ago.

"I went to meetings at the band hall, wrote letters like they told me to," she said.

"I filed atleast 30 applications and I've got nothing, no word."

Little personal space

The working mother does her best to keep her kids occupied and out of the hair of her 79-year-old grandmother and the other adults in the house.

But she said she finds it hard to manage the family's needs, with so little personal space.

Breaking down in tears, she described her difficult situation.

"It's so hard living here, I just feel bad for my 15-year-old daughters.We've been moving around so much butI've been writing letters so long," she said.

"Hopefully I can get a house soon and then I don't know, I want a place to call home."

Housing crisis in community

Housing shortage

8 years ago

Duration 0:44

Elizabeth Levi, a Mi'kmaq elder, talks about the housing shortage in her community

Levi's grandmother is Elizabeth Levi, aMi'kmaqelder.

She said she is happy to have her granddaughter and grandchildren in her home, but she misses her televisiontime.

"I usually sit and watch my game shows and my ball game and hockey, but now I just let them," she said.

"When they come home they always lay on the couches with their cellphones and whatever and the little one will be watching cartoons."

Elizabeth Levi raised 13 children in this First Nationand is proud to call it home.

Butshe saidthere is no doubtthere is a housing crisis.

"Oh my God, yes. If the government builds 500 houses right now, we'll fill them up like that, cause we've been living like this, it's not only me," she said.

"There's no houses available."

While Elizabeth Levi and her familyare living under difficult circumstances, they're better than some others on the reserve.

5kids, no home

Preston Labobe is a fisherman, who first applied to the band for housing in 2007.

At the time he and his wife only had one child, but now have five and still haven't received a home.

Labobe's father-in-law went to live with his girlfriend, so the Labobes could have a roof over their head.

But the seven of them are making dowith two bedrooms and one bathroom.

"It takes a toll on my kids the most," he said.

"No personal space, everybody has to be crammed into a bedroom."

Labobe saidthe house is also in desperate need of repairs.

"There's holes in the wall, the floor is not very good anymore (and) it's pretty cold," he said.

Housing a national problem

Crowded and dilapidated housing is a problem in First Nations across the country.

Substandard living conditions sparked the national Idle No More movement in 2011, when Theresa Spence, Chief of Attawapiskat First Nation in northern Ontario went on a hunger strike, hoping to meet with then-prime minister Stephen Harper to talk about solutions.

This past April, Attawapiskat was in the news again, but this time for a spate of suicide attempts that forced the community todeclarea state of emergency.

Many issues for Elsipogtog

More houses needed

8 years ago

Duration 0:47

Coun. Robert Levi said too few houses are being built to keep up with Elsipogtog's growing community.

Elsipogtog also has its share of social issues.

In April, community elders and the Warrior ChiefJohn Levi, tried to organize roadblocks to search incoming vehicles for drugs.

Signs in the community warn of a rise in the number of hepatitis C infections due to injection drug use.

Two people in their early 20s have committed suicide on the reserve in the pasttwo months.

Elizabeth Levi said she believes those social problems are inextricably linked to the issues of overcrowding and lack of housing.

Band councillor Robert Levi agrees that the lack of housing,along with unemployment, is one of the biggest contributing factors to those ills.

He saidtoo few houses are being builtto keep up with Elsipogtog's growing community.

"We have a backlog of about 500 people," he said.

Few new units built

Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC) works with Elsipogtog and other First Nations across the country, lending money though housing programs.

Jonathan D. Rotondo, senior media relations officer at CMHC, said in an email that Elsipogtog has received money to build a total of sixunits between 2012 and 2014.

However councillor Robert Levi can only remember four new houses being builtin the past five years.

"Because of that you've got more social problems," he said.

Federal money committed

CBC News requested an interview with the IndigenousAffairs Minister Carolyn Bennettto discuss the issues in Elsipogtog.

Although the minister's office acknowledged the request, no other reply was received.

The Liberal government has committed $554.3 million over two years to improve the conditions of First Nations housing across the country.

How much of that funding will land in Elsipogtog is unclear, and internal government documents obtained by the Canadian Press under Access to Information laws earlier this year predict it will cost more than three times that amount, $2 billion, to eliminate mould and chronic overcrowding on reserves in Manitoba alone.

Robert Levi agrees funding for First Nations housing is being talked about more under the current Liberal government, but says more is needed.

"I know in our case it's just the policies they are putting in place, the hurdles we have to jump through just to get those houses it's crazy," he said.

CBC requested an interview with Elsipogtog chiefAaron Sock but received no reply.