Federal government announces plans to ship Ottawa-built modular homes to Nunavut

An Ottawa company is building modular homes which will be shipped to Nunavut to help solve the territory’s housing crisis. CTV’s Kimberley Johnson reports.

Prefabricated homes built in Ottawa will soon be ready to ship to Nunavut as the federal government ramps up efforts to address a long-term housing crisis in the north.

“We know there are very significant housing needs in the North as well as unique challenges,” Gregor Robertson, Minister of Housing and Infrastructure said in an announcement Friday.

Dozens of the modular homes are being built in Ottawa by homebuilding company Caivan to help address the territory’s extreme housing shortage.

The $480 million dollar project is part of the federal government’s “Build Canada Homes” program. The plan is to build 750 homes, with funding coming from both the federal and territorial governments, in partnership with Inuit Organizations.

Paul Irngaut, President of Nunavut Tunngavik Incorporated, says the construction project is vital, and the project will be guided by Inuit voices.

“This is a very important day for Nunavut,” he explains. “It shows that government understand that its housing crisis cannot be solved by doing it alone, so we need partners.”

“This crisis is not something we read in a report. It’s lived every day in our homes and in our communities. It is crowded houses, families doubling up and young people with no place to begin their own lives.”

The environment in northern Canada creates construction challenges, so sections of modular homes will be built in cities across Canada, including in Ottawa, and then put together after they arrive.

Ottawa -based Caivan says it is working alongside Inuit groups to build two-to-four-bedroom homes which are specific to needs in the North.

“Last year, which was our first year of shipping fully complete homes into the north, we actually had 24 homes that were shipped, via ship, down the Saint Lawrence, out the maritime provinces and into the north,” Frank Cairo, co-founder and CEO Caivan, said.

“It was a 40,600-kilometer journey for those homes. This year we’ll be doing, just over 30 homes as well.”

Some of the homes will be affordable and supportive housing.

It’s part of a larger push to build homes in the territory.

“Housing in Nunavut must be Inuit led,” says Irngaut.

Cecile Nelvana Lyall, Minister responsible for the Nunavut Housing Corporation agrees.

“It represents a measure of hope that people will have places to rest after long days where children can study, and where families can plan a future,” says Lyall.

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