Nunavut MLAs delay approving housing corp's draft budget

In the legislature Monday,MLAs chose to delay approval of the Nunavut government's proposed 2020-2021 capital estimates for its housing corporation.

The territorial government is proposing a draft budget of over $43 million for the Nunavut Housing Corporation in the coming fiscal year. Of that, $17.5 million is slotted to build 35 new public housing units.

But that budget is now deferred until later in the sitting,bya motion from Arviat North-Whale Cove MLA John Main. He cited year-to-year discrepancies in the numbers of people on annual wait lists for community housing. Those community specific lists are used by the corporation to decide where to build homes.

"There were questions around the accuracy of those numbers," Main told the CBC. "In some communities the numbers on public housing waiting lists ... we see them go way down in one year, and then we see them come way up in the next year."

Main used the term "whipsaw" to describe the fluctuation.

In Igloolik he said the final waitlist used for housing allocation ishalf as long as it was the year before.

"My colleagues and I are hoping to gain a better understanding of why we see these patterns and of how the housing corporation is dealing with this," Main said.

Themotion to delay was passed through a tie, broken by the chairperson of the committee of the whole, Pat Angnakak. It came at the close of a three-day review by the regular members' caucus of the proposed housing corporation budget with the Minister responsible Patterk Netser and his officials.

The draft budget deals with staff housing, home ownership programs, repairs and retrofits. Main said he expects to see the budget eventually approved.

'They are going to be forgotten' MLA says

Right now, there are 282 public housing units in different stages of construction throughout the territory.

The housing corporation explained that Igloolik's housing wait list dropped by 50 per cent because new housing units were built in the community. The housing corporation had promised to build almost 100 units in Nunavut this current fiscal year. Of those, 20 were planned for Igloolik.

"I went to the local housing organization and the waiting list has increased. I don't think I can approve this budget with these numbers," Aggu MLA Paul Quassa said.

"They are going to be forgotten," he said of his constituents in Igloolik who might notreapply for housing or who don't check to make sure they're on the list before the end of the fiscal year.

Housing corp holds to its allocation method

Minister Netser stood by the challenged data.

During debate on the motion on Tuesday, he said the Nunavut Housing Corporation is doing all it can to address the territory's "severe" housing crisis. In a minister's statement Wednesday, he commended the organization's board of directors.

"We are not using inaccurate documents ... We allocate funds based on the statistics we get from the communities and from the local housing organizations," he said. "The communities who have the highest numbers of people on the waiting list are given priority."

The housing corporation vets those wait lists sent by community housing offices. It's the responsibility of residents to make sure they remain on the annually submitted lists, he said.

"When there's a jump or a spike in the number, it's based on the fact that people are actually now filling out these applications," said Terry Audla, president of the housing corporation.

Arviat North-Whale Cove MLA Main said that application is seven pages long in his community.

"The more I learn about this, the more problems I can see with relying on that waiting list data," he said. Main and Pangnirtung MLA Margaret Nakashuk said some people in their communities have been on a housing wait list for eight to 10 years.

Nunavummiut deserve transparency from the corporation, and the confidence that housing wait lists are accurate, said Hudson Bay MLA Allan Rumbolt.

In his opening remarks for review of the Nunavut Housing Corporation capital estimates,Rumbolt said MLAs also want more clarity on how the corporation manages funds for replacement and repairs after homefires, how staff housing builds are allocated, if housing corporation contractors are employing and training residents, and timely updates on how mould is being cleaned up in community public housing units.