The GNWT has sent two rural Indigenous communities funding to address housing needs.
The Nahanni Butte Dene Band is receiving $50,000 to conduct repairs on several housing units that were identified as a priority by the community.
“We identified what we needed, emergency repair work so our houses are safe. The housing Corporation was flexible in helping us to address this problem,” Chief Darrell Betsaka from the Nahanni Butte Dene Band said in a statement.
Both Nahanni Butte and Colville Lake were mentioned in a 2019 NWT Bureau of Statistics report, finding they were amongst the communities with the highest percentage of unsatisfactory housing.
Nahanni Butte is in the Dehcho region of the NWT, where nearly four in ten houses were inadequate.
Another pocket of funding is going to the Behdzi Ahda First Nation, located in Colville Lake, to help the them construct four log homes.
The Northwest Territories Housing Corporation is providing funding of up to $264,000 for materials, with the First Nation responsible for building the projects. The materials will be shipped on the winter road with delivery scheduled for April 2021.
“Log homes are an important part of Colville Lake’s history and the look and feel of our town,” Chief Wilbert Kochon from the Behdzi Adha First Nation said in a statement. “I appreciate that the government recognizes our housing priorities. This project will also provide the community much needed economic development, jobs and training.”
Colville Lake also had issues with adequate housing, with more than 39 per cent of housing being deemed inadequate, according to the same report.
In both communities, less than 50 per cent of residents are satisfied with the state of their home, compared with nearly 80 per cent for the territory as a whole.
