New affordable housing in central Labrador welcomed, but waitlist still long

The imminent opening of 16 new affordable housing units in Happy Valley-Goose Bay is welcomed news to many, but locals say the community’s housing needs are still great.

George Andrews, the town’s mayor, said the new units were built with $5 million in funding from the federal government’s rapid housing initiative program, which the municipality worked with the province to avail of.

“There were pretty tight criteria and deadlines, so it became evident that the best partner would be one that was experienced in housing, so we reached out to the province and NL Housing,” he said. “I just said, ‘This is an opportunity, we’ll take the $5 million and go into partnership with you guys — you can manage them and increase your inventory by 16 units,’” Andrews added. “At that time they had a waitlist of about 60 people, so it worked for everyone.”

Andrews said it’s great to see the new houses completed and welcoming tenants soon, but there’s still a dire need for more affordable housing in Happy Valley-Goose Bay, and housing in general.

He said although the cost of rent has somewhat stabilized, there’s still a shortage of affordable housing. “Generally, finding places isn’t very good. These units are built and some more are in the process of being built now, so inventory is coming up, but of course, like everything else, rent and stuff aren’t coming down greatly.”

According to recent figures provided to The Independent by the Newfoundland and Labrador Housing Corporation (NLHC), there are 52 applicants on the housing waitlist in Happy Valley-Goose Bay. 

NLHC said that, since 2023, 24 units in the community have been repaired or refurbished.

Krystal Saunders, housing support services manager for the Housing Hub shelter in Happy Valley-Goose Bay, said the new units are great news and she was happy to see them built so quickly. But more affordable housing is desperately needed in the community. 

Saunders said The Hub’s supportive living program, which the Nunatsiavut Government runs in conjunction with NLHC to help people transition from homelessness to independent living, has people ‘stuck’ in the system due to the lack of affordable housing.

“They’ve worked the program and done the work on themselves so that they can live independently, but they’re stuck because the cost of private rentals is so high,” she said. “Even with subsidies, it just doesn’t cut it. In my position, I work with private landlords to try and bridge that gap, but the subsidy usually caps around $1,000 and that doesn’t really cut it for somebody who is on income support and the rent is starting at $1,500 or $1,800.” 

Saunders said people can’t move into independent housing unless they find something with NLHC or the Melville Native Housing Association, which has created a bottleneck of people waiting to get into the supportive living program.

“If we could get some people in supported living into, say, an NLHC unit, then we could get people in the shelter system into supportive living,” she explained. “It’s really, really hard to make personal progress if they’re stuck in a shelter system for three years. There’s not much room for thinking about their future when they’re trying to meet their basic needs every day.”