Fort Good Hope, N.W.T., receives first new homes in years, addressing urgent need

A Sahtu community in the N.W.T. has received its first new homes in years.

Six modular housing units arrived in Fort Good Hope in the past few weeks, with three just last week.

"This has been a long time coming," said Arthur Tobac, who works in operations and programs at the K'ásho Got'ı̨nę Housing Society (KGHS).

He says funding for these homes was secured over three years ago from the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation, but winter road restrictions caused unexpected delays.

"In our case, the all-duplex models that we had purchased were too wide to put on the winter road. So we traded those in for six single units," Tobac said.

Tobac says the Sahtu community has faced a severe housing crisis, particularly for its most vulnerable residents. He referred to 2019 report on the issue, done by the KGHS.

"We did realize that there was a lot of homelessness. There was a hidden homelessness. There was also real high need for housing for single parents," he said.

The report says that out of the approximately 570 people living in the community at the time, at least 70 individuals were in immediate need of stable housing, with a significant portion being homeless or living in highly unstable conditions.

"We've been really feeling the intense need for all of those units," Tobac said.

He says two of the new units will be rentals, while the rest will be used for subsidized or transitional housing initiatives — "programs that are intended for families that are at risk of domestic violence," Tobac said.

Tobac says residents are reaching out to his office, excited to see new homes in their community — something they haven't seen in several years. 

"A lot of them are really eager to see where, who's getting what, and what kind of programs are going to receive these units," Tobac said.

"We have never had any new construction done in the community for many, many years."

He says installation work is now underway.

"Work is being done by NTPC [Northwest Territories Power Corporation]. They're putting poles in certain areas of the community down in that new development section. So power poles are also being put in place right now," Tobac said.

Creative solutions by KGHS

Julia Christensen is a project director with At Home in the North, a northern housing research partnership.

She says one of the challenges smaller communities face in addressing homelessness and housing security is the variety of needs, and of people's experiences. 

"To be able to provide a diverse range of housing options for diverse needs is really, really difficult," Christensen said.

Along with the new housing units to address the varied needs, the K'ásho Got'ı̨nę Housing Society is also building a modular home construction centre, where it will build its own modular homes in the community.

Christensen says the work the housing society is doing is innovative and creative.

"We can see that, you know, they're really trying to look at community housing needs from a comprehensive, holistic perspective," she said.

She says the new units will address the different housing gaps that exist in the community, and it's a step forward. This is because people from smaller communities are often forced to leave for bigger centres like Yellowknife for housing shelters and services.

"This provides those same people with a home and a place to have a roof over their heads and an opportunity to try to rebuild and heal and be well in their home community environment. And I can't stress enough how powerful that is," Christensen said.