Igluliuqatigiingniq
The Story of Igluliuqatigiingniq – Building Houses Together
Nunavut is home to about 36,800 people, 85 per cent of whom are Inuit. By 2043, Statistics Canada estimates that the territory’s population will be nearly double what it was in 1999.
Like Nunavut itself, Nunavummiut are young. In 2021, there were approximately 6,800 youth between the ages of 10 and 20. As this generation enters adulthood, they need places to live where they can start their careers, raise their families, and build their communities.
While housing is a human right and a basic need, long-term systemic challenges in Nunavut have resulted in a significant housing shortage that is rife with problems, including a lack of housing options, aging/inadequate housing stock and severe overcrowding. Without a new approach, the situation is expected to worsen.
To address the housing crisis in Nunavut, the Government of Nunavut with the Nunavut Housing Corporation launched Nunavut 3000, or Igluliuqatigiingniq meaning “building houses together” in October 2022. The goal - to build 3000 new housing units throughout Nunavut by 2030.
855 new residential housing units under construction in Nunavut since November 2021
The 855 new housing units amount to just over 85 per cent of the Katujjiluta Mandate to build 1,000 new units by October 2025. They also represent about 29 per cent of the Nunavut 3000 target for 3,000 new housing units of all types by the end of 2030.
With the Nunavut 3000 Strategy, Building Houses Together, all residential housing units with building permits are counted toward the ambitious goal of 3,000 housing units of all types by Dec 31, 2030. This includes units in progress and those ready for occupancy.
NHC appreciates the partnership and collaboration of Inuit Associations and public, non-profit and private sector organizations who have worked to make a lot of new housing for Nunavummiut possible.
Nunavut 3000 targets new units across the four housing segments—supported, public, affordable, and market—in response to the territory’s overall affordability challenges and market need.
The plan triples the rate of new public housing units built each year and supports partnerships to build transitional, affordable, and market housing units. Overall, Nunavut 3000 plans for the development of:
These units are envisioned in the housing continuum which reflects different housing types, from left to right, with housing accessible to a lower income on the left and housing accessible to a higher income on the right. The continuum also shows housing options that offer a higher level of accompanying support services on the left (e.g. emergency shelters), moving to less support (e.g. assisted living for Elders) to no support / minimal support on the right (private rental/ownership).
Nunavut's Housing Continuum
Transitional Housing
Public Housing
Affordable Rental Housing
By creating new housing in all communities, Nunavut 3000 fulfills the promise of the Katujjiluta mandate so that people can call it home for years to come.
