Iqaluit will get $108 million in federal funding for water and sewer upgrades which could allow the city to nearly double its current housing supply, Nunavut MP Lori Idlout says.
“That’s how impactful it can be,” she said Tuesday, after an announcement at Iqaluit’s public works garage.
“Given that we always have a shortage of housing, that is very exciting to me knowing that focusing on this infrastructure will create more opportunities for more housing to be built.”
The money will come from the $51-billion Build Communities Strong Fund, first introduced in the 2025 federal budget. It’s earmarked for hospitals, bridges, water systems and other core infrastructure.
In Iqaluit, the funding will go toward upgrades to trucked water and sewer services as well as expansions of existing infrastructure which will build Iqaluit’s capacity to grow by 2,500 housing units, Idlout said.
The work on those upgrades is set to be completed by 2031.
If built, 2,500 additional housing units would represent a 73 per cent increase in Iqaluit’s housing stock, which is listed at around 3,419 units, according to City of Iqaluit website.
The funding will add on the existing $214-million federal funding for a new Iqaluit water reservoir and the renewal of critical pipelines announced in 2022.
The Iqaluit sewage system upgrade is one of 13 projects across the country to get support from the federal fund.
“I think it will be very impactful for all of Nunavut,” Idlout said of the project.
“I know that it might sound like it’s just for Iqaluit, but with all the government offices being here I think it will make sure that we have more reliable services from the City of Iqaluit.”
Nunavut is also set to receive $155 million over 10 years for “critical public infrastructure,” which will be determined later under separate agreements between the federal and territorial governments, the federal news release said.