Climate change's role in northern housing crunch can't be ignored, advocates say

The northern housing crunch and climate change are "inextricably linked" and should be tackled together, according toan opinion piecepublished in the science journal, Nature.

The piece, written by Julia Christensen,points to a number of issues affecting the northern housing crisis, including permafrost thaw, wildfires, flooding and coastal erosion.

Christensen,an associate professor in the department of geography and planning at Queen's University, is also the director of At Home in the North, a community-research alliance funded by the Canadian Mortgage and Housing Corporation.

"There is not a lot there in terms of time and money, to be able to come together and share experiences and share what's working, and then also work together on advocating for policy change as a collective."

Communities across the North have long suffered from a lack of available and affordable housing. The latest point-in-time count report from Safe at Home in 2023 shows an increase in homelessness in Whitehorse.

"Affordability seems to be the number one barrier facing a whole range of individuals," said Kate Mechan, Safe at Home's executive director. "I think not just affordability, but the right types of housing, the location of that housing, whether supports, or the option for supports comes alongside that housing."

The latest northern housing report by the CMHC, which focuses on the threemajor urban centres in the territories, predicts that housing affordability has likely worsened since 2021, while the construction of new housing has slowed in part due to a lack of available labour and the rising costs of materials.

Transportation frustration

Issues surrounding the transportation of materials due to climate crises and inadequate planning increase the stress placed on a short house building season that is already threatened by climate disasters, Christensen said.

"Basically it comes down to making northern communities less reliant on the south because it's those elements of transportation that are really a vulnerable point in the housing ecosystem,"she said.

She added that while forest fires may be the central threat to home building and transportation in the Yukon, issues such as low water levels on the Mackenzie River prevent supplies from reaching their destination.

She said these situations make it increasingly important to improve the capacity for the storage of materials in the North in facilities that are resistant to wildfires.

Building smarter and safer

Some house builders are beginning to look at alternative options for constructing homes that are resistant to an ever- changing climate. These options range from fire-resistant materials to developing preventative strategies for already-existing homes.

"We need to deal with bigger rainstorms," said Larry Turner, the director of community services for Kwanlin Dn First Nation. "We're trying to make sure that gutters and so on are in place and direct the water away from the buildings, and trying to improve drainage around the buildings."

Turner saidthat Kwanlin Dn also currently uses cement board siding, which is highly rated with regards to fire resistance. He addedthe First Nation is also working to improve the grading around some of their older houses, as grading plans weren't required at the time of construction.

He said the biggest strategy Kwanlin Dn employs for protecting homes from climate disasters is through fire-smarting the land around them.

A need for creativity and community leadership

Christensen saidthat northern communities, particularly First Nations, are often unable to increase housing due to planning and legislation that does not mesh with their needs. She said communities have historically been planned using grid templates from other major urban centres, often designed by planners who have never been to the communities themselves.

"Ensuring that there are building code standards for northern housing that are reflective of northern housing needs, like climate."

Mechan saidthat building climate resilient housing takes creativity and community knowledge which isn't always taken seriously.

"We're the ones on the receiving end of a lot of this funding. We have to navigate these complex systems and legislation and bylaws, and I often feel as though because community isn't seen as'experts' in building," Mechan said. "The feedback that we provide on trying to navigate these systems is never taken seriously or integrated. I know it is, in some ways, but in other ways it's totally dismissed."

Christensen saidthere is a need for a northern housing continuum that could more accurately reflect the realities of northern Canada, including promoting a sense of agency and autonomy at all housing experiences, such as public housing and supportive housing.

Christensen and Mechan both support the idea of a northern housing advocacy collective.

"We need Indigenous-led solutions within our continuum, we need to be listening different," Mechan said. "If you want to talk about purely building, we need to be building more spaces that are energy efficient, that can account for our long winters, that provide people sunlight, and all of the things we all need to get through our long winters."