The first 10 modular homes built in Hay River for a major social housing project have left the community on a barge bound for Ulukhaktok, marking a milestone in a push to ease the Northwest Territories’ housing crunch. The homes, assembled as five duplex buildings, were loaded onto a Marine Transportation Services vessel and departed on July 6, expected to arrive in the Arctic community in early August after a 2,200-kilometre journey across Great Slave Lake, down the Mackenzie River, and into the Arctic Ocean.
The shipment is the first of 98 units being built for single adults and Elders in nine communities across the territory. By spring 2028, similar duplexes and fourplexes will be delivered to Ulukhaktok, Tuktoyaktuk, Inuvik, Délı̨nę, Tulita, Behchokǫ̀, Fort Simpson, Fort Providence, and Fort Smith. The homes are meant to address a shortage of smaller, affordable housing identified in the territory’s needs assessment, which found a deficit of between 1,750 and 2,700 units.
The project is funded through a portion of the GNWT’s three-year, $150 million housing investment. Most of the homes are being built in Hay River by Metcan Building Solutions, a partnership between ARCAN Construction Ltd. and the Hay River Métis Government Council. The company has been producing modular homes since 2021, supplying units to replace flood- and wildfire-damaged housing across the territory.
In Ulukhaktok, where about 60 percent of residents live in social housing, the new duplexes will add to the 94 units already managed by Housing NWT. The homes are designed to provide stable housing for individuals, a growing need across the territory’s smaller communities.
