I don't know how much of my initial introduction was done, so I'll just go quickly over what may be repetitive.
I'm based here in Iqaluit, Nunavut. I have been working on housing and homelessness and other related issues for 30 years. I was the former mayor for the City of Iqaluit for two terms.
Most importantly, with respect to this topic, I assisted a men's shelter in getting two new buildings, that is, 16,000 square feet, with 30 shelter beds, 30 transition housing beds, new offices, a new programming space and 11 apartments, of which five are to be used for portable housing.
I am now working in the private sector and assisting the Iqaluit Agvvik women's shelter in securing funding, so that they too may now be able to secure funding for transition and affordable housing. I am also on the Canadian Alliance to End Homelessness board, so I am definitely connected at the local level and the national level.
The issues we face for housing and homelessness in Nunavut are mostly well understood and known. The challenge I find, as both a former politician and now in the private sector, is the lack of coordination between the different levels of government and Inuit organizations, and the disconnect that happens with our communities that may not even have shelters and definitely struggle with sometimes not having the community organizations that can apply for funding.
There is a challenge, as well, with the high level of staff turnover with all the levels of government on this topic, as well as with the Inuit organizations. It's like a game of Snakes and Ladders. You're always trying to move forward, but every time you have an election, a change in leadership, a change in staff, a lot of that work that was being done is lost. For the next person who comes in, often there are delays and there is not good handover on the files, and it just feels as if you're never catching up.
The federal government has provided the government in Nunavut with almost $300 million for the next 10 years to help with the development of more public housing, as well as some affordable housing. Unfortunately, it's nowhere near what is required, because 3,000 units, at a cost of approximately $630,000 per unit, would require almost $1.89 billion. You can imagine that the $300 million is a tremendous shortfall.
Nonetheless, even when there is additional funding, like under the co-investment program or recently the rapid housing initiative, I find there's not enough people with the capacity to develop those applications. We end up seeing, time and time again, our region not submitting applications or not enough applications.
I really think the priority in being able to solve the issues here is more leadership, co-operation, coordination and capacity development. There are ways in which we can solve this, but not working together is definitely, I think, the number one challenge.
Thank you.