Pathways to Resilience: Addressing the housing crisis in Canada’s North

Abstract

Housing challenges in the far North are compounded by remote geographies, high costs of construction, and top-down neocolonial policy frameworks. The limited resilience of the housing system results in spatial and racial inequalities that perpetuate the exclusion of Indigenous people from access to adequate and suitable housing. Decades of underinvestment in critical infrastructure – energy, roads, and public housing – has driven the rapid rise of homelessness and worsened the housing affordability crisis in this captive market. Recognizing the power of recent housing initiatives by Indigenous-led organizations, we argue for transformational change to build more resilience through policy integration and investment in affordable housing to open pathways towards reconciliation and improve economic and social opportunities. Our research calls for stronger efficiency and effectiveness of government programs for critical social infrastructure, and diversification of housing models that navigate market and non-market economies in Canada’s North.