Public Housing in Nunavut

The government must act to provide Nunavummiut with access to suitable public housing

Report metadata

Tabling date:: May 24, 2025
Report type: Northern legislative assemblies reports

Public Housing in Nunavut
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At a glance

The Nunavut Housing Corporation (NHC) is responsible for public housing in the territory’s 25 communities. The NHC funds and oversees independent local housing organizations, which manage nearly 6,000 public housing units across the territory. The Government of Nunavut has acknowledged that the territory is facing a housing crisis. Nunavummiut face long delays before public housing units become available, and those in public housing often live in overcrowded housing units.

Part of the NHC’s mandate is to provide equitable access to housing for Nunavummiut. To achieve this, the NHC created guidelines to allocate public housing to those applicants most in need. However, we found that its oversight of the public housing waitlists was poor and that it did limited monitoring of the allocation of units by local housing organizations. As a result, the NHC did not know whether units were being allocated across the territory to those most in need. It also did not assess the accessibility needs of adults 60 years of age or older and persons with disabilities in public housing.

The NHC did not monitor whether regular checks to assess the condition of public housing units were taking place and whether preventative maintenance was being done. Unit condition inspections of public housing units should happen every 2 years. However, as of March 2024, inspections were, on average, 6 years old. A lack of preventative maintenance can lead to unsafe living conditions and increased costs in the future.

To address the housing shortage, in October 2022, the Government of Nunavut and the NHC launched the Nunavut 3000 Strategy. The strategy aimed to build 3,000 housing units by 2030. Of these housing units, the NHC has committed to delivering 1,400 public housing units at an estimated cost of $1.2 billion. The NHC faces challenges in meeting its public housing targets, including difficulties in securing land and uncertain future funding levels. We found that it did not clearly communicate its progress toward achieving its target.

Why we did this audit

The high costs associated with home ownership, the limited availability of affordable housing, and the overall socio-economic challenges Nunavummiut face make it difficult for many to own homes or be able to afford housing without being subsidized.
Providing equitable access to suitable and adequate public housing to those most in need is fundamental. The lack of proper housing can lead to serious impacts, such as homelessness, addictions, health problems, and increased levels of domestic violence.

Highlights of our recommendations

The Nunavut Housing Corporation should monitor and maintain a record of all allocations of public housing units to applicants and take corrective actions if it identifies allocations that are not equitable, transparent, or in accordance with its policies.
The Nunavut Housing Corporation should monitor, and document its monitoring of, preventative maintenance throughout the territory, including unit condition inspections, mould, and heat recovery ventilators, to ensure that housing units are adequately maintained.
The Nunavut Housing Corporation should determine which public housing units meet the accessibility needs of elders and persons with disabilities and should integrate this information into its inventory system.

Key facts and findings

Based on the NHC’s data, more than 60% of Nunavummiut rely on public housing, 45% of which is overcrowded.
According to Statistics Canada’s most recent census (2021), 84% of all Nunavummiut are Inuit. Inuit make up 97% of public housing tenants in Nunavut.
The NHC’s almost 6,000 public housing units across Nunavut’s 25 communities represent 57% of all housing in Nunavut.
Statistics Canada’s 2021 census data showed that about one third of Inuit in Nunavut indicated that they were living in housing in need of major repairs.
According to the NHC, almost 1,900 of the approximately 6,000 public housing units it managed were built over 40 years ago.
The NHC did not monitor whether preventative maintenance of public housing was completed. From our sample, we found that about one third of the public housing units had no preventative maintenance completed.

Exhibit highlights

Many Nunavummiut rely on overcrowded public housing

Source: Based on data from the Nunavut Housing Corporation

Public housing in regions and communities across Nunavut

Source: Based on data from the Nunavut Housing Corporation

The governance structure for oversight and management of public housing in Nunavut

Source: Based on data from the Nunavut Housing Corporation

Only 6% of unit condition inspections from our sample were done between the period 1 April 2022 and 31 March 2024

Note : Based on the examination of a representative sample of 51 units to determine whether the unit condition inspections were done on time.

Infographics

Nunavut faces a severe public housing crisis, with long waitlists and overcrowding resulting in many Nunavummiut living in conditions that have negative impacts on their health, safety, and social well-being.

Infographic 1