Fort Good Hope trades centre starts to make ‘homes built for the North’

The new K’áhsho Got’ı̨nę trades centre in Fort Good Hope is tackling two problems at once by offering people skilled trades training and hiring them on modular housing construction projects.

“It’s not just building homes, but building careers,” Joseph Tobac, president of Fort Good Hope’s Yamoga Land Corporation and Ne’Rahten Developments Ltd, told Cabin Radio in a phone interview. 

Tobac said the community has been experiencing a housing crisis for a long time, with many people living in overcrowded homes or buildings that need major repairs.

In a statement to coincide with a grand opening being held on Friday, Tobac said the trades centre is an “opportunity for community members to learn new life-long skills and earn a living, all while building new homes that are built for the North.”

“It’s exciting to see that this is coming to fruition, and we’re actually trying to deal with the issue and build homes,” Tobac said. Importantly, he added, the modular homes are built to be energy efficient and withstand the North’s climate.

Housing is a crisis throughout the Northwest Territories, but particularly for smaller communities, said Simon Taylor, a principal with Taylor Architecture Group, in a video call. The firm said it has worked closely with the community on the trades centre.

“There just isn’t enough housing stock for the population and the quality of homes in general, particularly older homes, has decreased considerably,” Taylor said.

When homes in the North deteriorate, he added, it can be expensive to fix them because you have to fly in someone to do the repairs and ship in the necessary parts.

Ne’Rahten Developments – the Yamoga Land Corporation’s business arm – already had a program that hired community members to do house repairs, but that work was mostly seasonal, Taylor said. The new trades centre allows people to work year round building modular houses and get trained in the trades.

While the grand opening is taking place on Friday, the centre has been operational since June. Construction workers are already partway through building the first of two duplexes for Housing NWT. 

That contract will provide work for “at least the next two years,” Taylor said. The units will then be shipped to Tulita. 

The new facility’s hall can accommodate about 10 tradespeople, a foreman, and a few office staff. It’s not yet at full capacity but operations are ramping up, Taylor said.

“It’s exciting to see the different people that are getting trained on the various components within the building,” Tobac said.

“They’re learning the different tools that we have in there, so it’s good to see them picking it up.”

He added the duplex is coming along nicely.

Keeping the economic benefits

Designing the trades centre itself was straightforward, said Taylor, but the construction logistics were complex. Many materials had to get into Fort Good Hope during the annual winter road season, meaning availability of supplies and funding timelines had to match up.

The Ne’Rahten Developments board was “instrumental” in making quick decisions and ensuring the right authorizations were in place to keep the project moving at a fast clip, he said. Tobac thanked the project partners for working together to get the trades centre up and running.

To get the centre built, the National Indigenous Collaborative Housing Inc provided $9.2 million in funding. Taylor said the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation contributed about $6 million through its Housing Supply Challenge funding stream. Federal economic development agency CanNor stepped in with $5 million in operational funding over the next four years.

The centre includes a classroom that will host a training program with the NWT Literacy Council to help people pass their pre-trade entrance exam.

Once they pass the exam, workers – supervised by a journeyman certified carpenter – will gain apprentice hours while they build modular homes. Those hours are required to get certified in skilled trades.

The initiative will keep economic benefits in Fort Good Hope, Taylor said, flowing funding and expertise back into the community rather than relying on outside labour and contractors.

“There’s all sorts of opportunities,” Taylor said. “They may even start using their own shipping companies.”

Federal and territorial politicians showered the Indigenous-led housing initiative with praise.

Crown-Indigenous relations minister Rebecca Alty called the completion of the centre a “major milestone” that will create good local jobs and strengthen the regional economy.

NWT housing minister Lucy Kuptana stated the centre exemplifies how partnerships and community-driven solutions can address housing and employment challenges.