The NWT Housing Corporation on Wednesday said it was providing a total of more than $300,000 to projects in Nahanni Butte and Colville Lake.
The corporation’s Community Housing Support program will give $50,000 to the Nahɂą Dehé Dene Band in Nahanni Butte to fund emergency repairs to homes in the community.
A 2019 GNWT housing report identified Nahanni Butte, one of the smallest NWT communities, as having among the highest proportion of houses requiring major repairs.
The Behdzi Ahda First Nation in Colville Lake will receive $264,000 to help construct four log homes providing affordable housing.
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Materials are scheduled to arrive in April 2021. The First Nation will provide the labour to complete the project.
“Log homes are an important part of Colville Lake’s history and the look and feel of our town,” Chief Wilbert Kochon of Behdzi Adha First Nation is quoted as saying.
“This project will also provide the community much-needed economic development, jobs and training.”
The same 2019 housing report said Colville Lake, another of the territory’s smallest communities, had the NWT’s highest proportion of dwellings with housing issues.
Ninety percent of Colville Lake’s homes had problems at the time of the report.
Some community members said last year they were planning to make their own homes to address the community’s dire need for adequate and suitable housing.
