Lori Idlout’s Facebook post flooded with comments after she asks Nunavummiut for their experiences
“I’ve been on the waiting list for 11 years.”
“I waited 10 years to get a two bedroom.”
“I applied when I turned 18; I’m turning 30 in six months.”
These are just a small sampling of the more than 700 comments that flooded in under a Feb. 2 Facebook post from Nunavut MP Lori Idlout, asking Nunavummiut how many of them had been on a housing waiting list and for how long.
Jasmine Nagiyak has been on the waiting for nearly six years, she said Thursday. She also commented on Idlout’s post.
“I just want the best for me and my daughter and my partner to have our own place to call home,” she said.
Nagiyak, her husband Simon Enuapik Jr. and their two-year-old daughter Monica Nagiyak have been living between Whale Cove and Arviat for the past two years, since her daughter was born. They recently moved in with Enuapik’s family in Whale Cove, where they share a three-bedroom with seven other people.
Prior to this living situation, the family lived with Nagiyak’s mother in Arviat with six other people in a two-bedroom home.
Nagiyak said living in overcrowded housing can strain finances and cause family problems.
“It’s hard for me to talk about it,” she said.
Idlout said in an interview that she was surprised by the flood of responses to her query.
The federal government announced in January a plan to build 750 homes in the territory in co-ordination with the Government of Nunavut and Nunavut Tunngavik Inc.
Idlout said that’s not enough to solve Nunavut’s housing shortage.
“What would be enough,” she said, “is guarantees that housing will be funded on a permanent basis to housing needs right now.”
The federal government’s current funding model for the territory does not include any specific allocation to housing, Idlout said.
“There is not enough funding in the first place and that’s why we’ve ended up in this scenario where we’ve got hundreds and hundreds of people that have been on waiting lists for [decades],” she said.
Former Nunavut premier P.J. Akeeagok announced the territorial government’s plan in 2022 to alleviate the housing shortage. Called Nunavut 3000, the goal was to build 3,000 units by 2030 for $2.6 billion. The federal government’s January announcement will count toward this goal.
Over 60 per cent of Nunavummiut live in public housing. Nearly half of those homes — 45 per cent — are considered to be overcrowded, according to a May 2025 report from the auditor general of Canada.
The auditor general’s report stated there were 3,348 applicants on the wait list for housing as of March 2025.
According to data provided by the Nunavut Housing Corp. on Friday, the average wait time for a home is five-plus years. As of Dec. 31, there are 3,715 applicants on a waiting list, representing an increase of 367 applications from the auditor general’s numbers.
Of the 3,715 applicants waiting for homes in Nunavut, 385 have been waiting for 10 years or more.
Housing Minister Cecile Nelvana Lyall was not available for an interview.