Small Town Week, Episode 1: Can we build new housing ourselves?

In today’s Big Story podcast, welcome to Small Town Week, a five-part series in which we examine the big problems facing small communities.

Access to affordable housing is no longer limited to big cities in Canada. Small communities also struggle to provide affordable housing for their residents. And perhaps the struggle is felt hardest in Canada’s north, where the cost of living is significantly higher, from groceries to basic supplies to housing.

To address the high cost of living, Nunavut heavily relies on an already strained public housing system. However, this wasn’t always the case. In the past, residents in what would later become Nunavut built their own homes through the Homeownership Assistance Program (HAP).

Formerly based in Iqaluit, journalist David Venn wrote a series for Nunatsiaq News, discussing overcrowding in Nunavut’s public housing and the potential of HAP as a viable solution for residents, if it were available now.

“When you build your own home and move into it, just that sense of ownership and agency is something that can’t be lost in this conversation,” says Venn.

So, why did HAP end? And could bringing it back offer a glimpse of a way out of the crisis we’re facing?

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