Deal struck on 5,000 First Nations homes

Federal funding will be used to build, renovate

The federal government has signed agreements to build, renovate or retrofit nearly 5,000 housing units this year and next on First Nations reserves across the country, the National Post has learned.

But critics say Ottawa can and must do more to meet what the government itself says is an immediate demand for at least 20,000 new housing units on reserves.

The 2016 federal budget, the first from the Trudeau government, provided for $554.3 million over two years on new or renovated housing units on reserve. Of that, $416.6 million was earmarked for immediate housing needs although it would be spent over two years.

In the House of Commons Monday, Indigenous Affairs Minister Carolyn Bennett said agreements have been signed for about two-thirds of that money.

“We know these investments are a first step,” Bennett said later in an emailed statement. ”We are working in full partnership with First Nations communities on a long-term plan for housing, including flexible, innovative approaches, such as multiunit and mixed-purpose housing, that better meets the needs of First Nation communities.”

Her department has signed $267 million worth of two-year funding agreements that will support either the construction, renovation or servicing of a mixture of 2,700 housing units or building lots in each province or territory except Nunavut and the Northwest Territories.

Canada Mortgage and Housing Corp., the chief source of housing funds for the country’s band councils, has committed $56 million this year for the renovation and retrofit of 2,452 homes.

That update was provided to the Post on Monday by Bennett’s office, but earlier this year, her officials told MPs 300 new homes would be built this year.

But that barely meets demand in one riding.

“Just in my riding there’s a backlog of about 1,000 units for the Inuit, about 2,000 units for the Cree and about 300 for the Algonquins,” said Romeo Saganash, the Cree NDP MP who represents the northern Quebec riding of Abitibi—Baie-James—Nunavik—Eeyou, one of the largest in the country. “It’s a pretty serious problem.”

Saganash said it can cost as much as $300,000 to build a modest home in a remote First Nations community. He said if the federal funding was spread equally across the country’s 630 First Nations communities, there would hardly be enough to build one house on each reserve.

Meantime, MPs on a Commons committee studying the issue of suicide among indigenous youth heard testimony Monday from a researcher that said suicide rates were higher where there was poor or no housing.

Michael Lalonde, a psychology professor at the University of Victoria, said that while suicide rates tended to rise as the number of people living in a home rose, his research suggested there are more concerns over mental health, depression and suicide for those living in homes in disrepair.

“I think you need to separate the issue of crowding from quality,” Lalonde said.

Housing infrastructure on First Nations is largely built and maintained by band councils. Notably, most homes on a reserve are not owned by their inhabitants but by the band.

As a result, it can be difficult for inhabitants to borrow against their homes for repairs. In many cases, inhabitants would be unable to make repairs without the permission of the band council.