Nain home built on sinking land: Owner has 'nowhere to go'
Jacob Barker | CBC News | Posted: May 18, 2016 7:02 PM | Last Updated: May 18, 2016
Kelly Edmunds is worried about fire, and how to keep her toddler safe
A woman in Nain says her home isn't fit to live in, but she can't find another place to live in a town where housing, and land to build on, are hard to come by.
Kelly Edmunds doesn't mince words in describing how she feels about the house she grew up in — the house she's bringing up her two-year-old daughter in.
"I hate my house. It's horrible," she told CBC News.
"It's sunk down four feet on one side. The basement is full of mould and now with the spring, the mould is going to start coming up."
New steps put in on the side of the house last fall are already visibly askew.
"It's pretty much built on a bog," said Edmunds.
The house is nearly 30 years old, built on land her mother owns, by her father who was an inexperienced 22-year-old carpenter at the time. Edmunds said it is nearly impossible to find another lot to build on.
"There's nowhere. If I wanted to try for a mortgage. I'd have to have land. There's no land available"
Income too high for community housing
Edmunds said the Torngat Regional Housing Association (TRHA) did install new windows and doors on her house but would not do the work necessary to level it up.
"They said, 'you're approved for renovations but we don't want to put any money into your house.'"
The repair crew did, however, give her a recommendation for a new house on her application to TRHA. She said the application is likely to be rejected because her boyfriend made too much money last year.
"It almost came to the point where we were gonna say, 'ok, let's fake break up for a second just so I can not have you on my housing application.' Like that's how extreme it is. Just because of what he made in a matter of months, it totally screws it all up," she said,
"Now he's unemployed, on E.I., which is one of the reasons I picked up a second job."
Inside there are visible cracks in the floor and the walls are coming apart. On windy days, she said, you can feel the draft coming through the walls. Some of the outlets don't work. She doesn't trust the wiring.
"If this house ever caught afire, it would go down in minutes and just if I had new wiring, I would be happy with that. If I had a safe place for my daughter, I would be happy." she said.
'Barely survived the winter'
Edmunds said she'd like to have another child but refuses to in this house. Before she had a woodstove installed, when her daughter was a newborn, she said she was paying between $900 and $1000 a month for electricity.
"We barely survived the winter, I don't know how we did it. If I wanted to grow my family or whatever, I wouldn't be able to do it before I had somewhere stable to live," she said
"I'm almost scared to get my house inspected because I'm afraid it's going to be condemned and then where am I gonna go? There's nowhere to go."
Edmunds said she'd be happy with a small apartment that's safe.
The federal government did pledge $16 million dollars for housing improvements in the 2016 budget. The money will be spent over two years.
Former president of Nunatsiavut Sarah Leo said it was a good first step in dealing with the housing crisis, particularly in Nain and Hopedale.
Recently elected president Johannes Lampe says they are still figuring out how to spend it.
"The Nunatsiavut Government will do its best to see how it can best spend that money and look at who needs that money the most," he said.