The annual funding for social housing from the federal government has been declining since the early 1990s, as you mentioned. This has been replaced by large packages of funding that are announced on a piecemeal basis. This has been incredibly challenging for northern communities because it means that it becomes very difficult to engage in any long-term planning. There is no certainty from year to year that there will be funding that can be depended on, and it makes it very difficult to see programs evolve and to be flexible and responsive to evolving needs.
What happens is that large packages of funding are announced, and they seem quite significant—millions and billions of dollars. However, in actuality, when you look at, for example, the national housing strategy and the $240 million that was dedicated to Nunavut to address chronic housing need, that actually translates into 48 new units per year under the national housing strategy. It's a drop in the bucket when you look at the number of housing units that are actually required in Nunavut.
It becomes difficult to really address the full scope of the issue. It becomes difficult to engage in long-term planning. It also means that when funding is directed through territorial governments and not directly to communities, communities have to basically respond, bend and reshape their housing needs under the priorities set at the territorial government level.
It just becomes very difficult to engage in long-term planning, ultimately, which I keep coming back to as being a tremendous challenge in addressing and really making a dent in the northern housing crisis.