Taloyoak resident endures 20 years on housing waitlist amid dire shortages

Karen Nanook has lived with her family in a cramped, mould-infested home for two decades while waiting for public housing in Taloyoak, Nunavut.

For twenty years Karen Nanook has been confined to a mould-ridden, three-bedroom home in Taloyoak, sharing the space with her adult daughter, brother and aging parents, leaving little privacy. Although she has been on the public-housing waitlist, she has never moved beyond third place among the roughly 120 local applicants. The community of about 1,000 residents has just over 200 public units, while the Nunavut Housing Corporation oversees more than 6,000 units territory-wide and reports a total waitlist of over 3,700 people.

An auditor-general report highlighted flaws in the points-based allocation system, and a new online portal, IgluWeb, is slated for launch later this year to improve tracking. The government’s “Nunavut 3,000” plan aims to construct 3,000 homes by 2030, with 20 units currently under construction in Taloyoak, though material delays persist. Nanook also faces income-assistance delays that exacerbate her family’s hardship.