Much-needed new housing for Tulita, N.W.T., further delayed by barge cancellation
Kelly Wrigley says she's at the top of the housing waitlist in Tulita, N.W.T.
She now sleeps on the couch of her two-bedroom unit so that her son and daughter can sleep in beds. She says the walls have mould, and a crack in the sewage tank makes the whole house smell if the tank isn't emptied daily.
She's been in her current unit for four years, maybe even five, she says.
And with some planned new housing units now delayed in Tulita because of low water on the Mackenzie River, Wrigley could be in that unit for a while yet.
On May 23, the territorial government said that low water on the Mackenzie River made the waterways unnavigable, and so barge deliveries to Norman Wells and Tulita would be cancelled this year.
The new housing planned for Tulita was set to arrive by barge this year. It's a duplex for seniors — one of five first promised to N.W.T. communities in March, then pushed to summer.
In the N.W.T. Legislative Assembly last week, the territory's housing minister confirmed that the duplex for Tulita would now be arriving by winter road in 2025.
The Deh Cho bridge linking Fort Providence, N.W.T., to the territory's highway system, seen here last month. Low levels of water can be seen well into the middle of the Mackenzie River. (Travis Burke / CBC)
Wrigley says she moved into her current home because her last place, a single unit, had a rotting bathroom and issues with the furnace.
Wrigley doesn't work and describes herself as a recluse because of trauma from a plane crash near Tulita decades ago. Sometimes, she says, she can't leave her house, but if she stays inside, she worries about what she's breathing in.
She says her housing problems makes it difficult to manage her other stressors.
"Your living situation, if it's bad, you don't really have the momentum to move forward," she said.
'A long line of people waiting for housing'
Wrigley is one of many waiting on the new units in Tulita.
Once seniors move into the new duplex, that opens the seniors' previous units for others on the hamlet's housing waitlist. Since Wrigley is waiting on a three-bedroom unit, that may not be her — but there are plenty of others in Tulita also struggling with housing issues.
Doug Yallee, Tulita's mayor, said many homes in the community are overcrowded.
"Like everywhere else, there is a long line of people waiting for housing," he said.
He says the community is becoming increasingly vulnerable to climate change's impacts on its infrastructure.
The new housing planned for Tulita, N.W.T., is a duplex for seniors. (Submitted by Housing NWT)
He said that in addition to barge cancellations last year and this year, the winter road season is getting shorter and shorter.
Yallee is calling on the government to prioritize the Mackenzie Valley Highway to avoid delays like this in the future, and to help residents access fuel, dried foods and other materials typically delivered by barge. The highway would be a two-lane, all-season highway from Wrigley, N.W.T., to Tulita and Norman Wells.
Lilian Doctor, an elder in Tulita, says she's also on the housing waitlist and has been asking for a new unit for three years.
She lives in a one-bedroom unit with her 49-year-old son, and while she says her situation doesn't compare to many others in the community, she hopes to one day have space for a dresser to keep her clothes.
"My clothing is scattered pretty good," she said.
The other four seniors' duplexes are planned for the communities of Fort Resolution, Fort McPherson, Fort Simpson and Behchokǫ̀. Housing N.W.T. said in an email that those units are still expected to arrive in communities this summer.
