Nunavik to get 300 new housing units
First 74 units to be built in Puvirnituq and Kuujuaq by end of 2012
Quebec plans to build 300 new social housing units in Nunavik by 2016, according to a press release from the ministry of Municipal Affairs, Regions and Land Occupancy.
The materials to build the first 74 homes are expected to arrive via sealift in Puvirnituq and Kuujjuaq in mid-October, and those homes should be completed by the end of 2012.
The Société d'habitation du Québec (SHQ), the Kativik Municipal Housing Bureau and the Makivik Corporation announced Friday they had signed two agreements for the construction of 300 low-rental homes in Nunavik at a cost of $79.5 million, plus $12.4 million to cover the operating deficit for the homes after construction.
The 300 new units are part of the Quebec government’s Plan Nord, a strategy for the development of resources and the economy in northern Quebec.
Makivik Corporation hired as contractor
"Our government is aware of the problems that households in Nunavik face in finding proper housing," stated Laurent Lessard, minister of Municipal Affairs, Regions and Land Occupancy for the Government of Quebec, in a press release.
"It is for this reason that we have made housing a priority for the Plan Nord. In addition to the project's positive social impacts, it will also have some major economic consequences for the Inuit community, since it will create a large number of jobs and promote the training of local labour."
The Kativik Municipal Housing Bureau will be responsible for managing the construction, while the Makivik Corporation has been hired as the contractor and will be responsible for hiring all the labour. The homes must be delivered by March 2016.