Iqaluit family of 6 that spent 3 months living in a tent gets a home

At first she didn't believe it.

After living in a tent and bouncing between relatives, Alison Nakoolak and her family of six have moved into a home of their own.

"I couldn't stop crying and yelling," Nakoolak said after her common-law spouse Norman Roger Laisa told her they would be moving into a five-bedroom house, just down the street from where the couple spent three months living in a tent in Iqaluit.

"I didn't believe him. I asked him, 'did they really call you?'" she said.

In January, a former housing office that had been converted into a home became available for the family.

On Friday, they moved in and soon another child will join the household. Nakoolak is due to give birth in April.

"I'm just so happy that we're home. We have a house," she said.

The home is a work in progress. Boxes of clothes and children's toys lay beside mattresses on the floor. The relief alone has been life changing.

"No more worries over my kids. We were worrying about them a lot," Nakoolak said. 

"We love it."

Slow progress 

Since June of last year, 23 names have been removed from the waiting list in Iqaluit, the majority of those moving into a new 33- unit complex completed last summer. More than half of those units were internal transfers given to tenants to address overcrowding issues or to allow older units to be renovated and reallocated. More than a hundred more names are on the waiting list in Nunavut's capital.

"It may be slow but that's just the nature of the business because of the unpredictable funding and the amount of time it takes to marshal all the equipment that's not readily available here in Nunavut," said Terry Audla, the new president and CEO of the Nunavut Housing Corporation.

Across the territory, the Nunavut Housing Corporation estimates there is a shortage of 3,000 housing units.

"We know Nunavut is comprised of a very young population and when you consider that, I'm pretty sure there's more of a hidden overcrowding issue," he said. 

"There's more of a need. There's no doubt [there's] young people of age that can probably move on to another home but that just don't bother applying."

About half of the 37,000 people in the territory are under the age of 25.

With an upcoming federal budget, Audla hopes to see something it in to address the housing need in the territory.

"We're hoping good news will come from the budget," he said.

"We're also hoping that this becomes a part of our planning process so that it's more predictable and that we're able to meet the dire needs here in Nunavut."