NAN Housing Strategy

In 2014, the 49 Chiefs-in-Assembly of Nishnawbe Aski Nation (NAN) declared a Collective Housing Emergency by passing Resolution 14/40. Three years later, in 2017, the NAN Infrastructure Summit and resulting report called for the creation of a housing strategy to address the crisis. In 2018, NAN Chiefs-in-Assembly passed Resolution 18/18 which restated the Housing Emergency and called for the creation of a modern NAN Housing Strategy.

The calls followed decades of inappropriate intervention that had resulted in NAN communities facing what Chiefs-in-Assembly described as “deplorable housing conditions that lead to extensive health issues, short housing life, overcrowding and extreme mold”.

NAN partnered with TDL in 2018 to lead engagement and develop a Housing Strategy that centered the voices of all 49 member communities. The project resulted in the co-creation of an expansive Housing Strategy that outlined seven housing priorities for NAN, including addressing the health impacts of housing and improving funding structures. In August of 2022, NAN Chiefs-in-Assembly passed Resolution 22/12, which accepted and launched the implementation of the Housing Strategy.

Guided by curiosity, the project began by asking: 

What housing values and priorities are central to communities in NAN? What might a housing strategy look like for NAN? 

Who was involved?

The story of the NAN Housing Strategy is a shared story. The project involved several years of relationship building, engagement, and co-creation with NAN youth, Elders, community members, Chief and Councils, housing managers, construction crews and trainees, and community health workers. Architects, policymakers, and other advisors with knowledge of NAN territory were also involved in the process. 

What was TDL’s role? 

TDL was responsible for designing and partnering in conducting several months of engagement with over 400 community members, including NAN leaders and other key stakeholders. The TDL team was tasked with synthesizing community feedback into a Housing Strategy Roadmap to guide implementation of housing solutions that were specific to NAN priorities and needs. 

What types of engagement occurred?

Formal Engagement 

Formal engagement included presenting at symposiums or summits and hosting community workshops, including workshops to engage NAN youth. TDL also facilitated a workshop with architects, policymakers, and healthcare professionals to share NAN-identified housing priorities and identify some of the steps required to operationalize proposed housing changes.

Informal Engagement 

Informal engagement included visiting eight NAN communities to participate in community events, listen to NAN members’ lived experiences with housing, and build relationships with members through conversation. Whether meeting at members’ homes or at local grocery stores, TDL’s engagement process was dynamic and community-driven, focusing on building relationships, sharing food, and engaging in conversation to ensure that Housing Strategy language reflected what was happening on-the-ground in NAN communities. 

What was learned?

Quantitative metrics cannot adequately capture housing experiences.

Initially, TDL hoped to create community-specific metrics to assess NAN-wide housing needs. In conversation with community members, it soon became clear that unique housing priorities and needs of NAN communities could not be adequately addressed through the development of  overarching, quantitative housing metrics. The project demonstrated that there are both practical and logistical barriers facing quantitative methods in capturing housing experiences across a broad territory such as NAN, particularly when seeking metrics related to statistical significance.The project also demonstrated the impossibility of accurately capturing the texture and nuance of individual housing experiences with a single set of metrics.

Advancing action-oriented priorities that resonate with all stakeholders requires compromise. 

Social and geographic differences across the 49 NAN communities added complexity to the development of a unified NAN Housing Strategy. Developing a Strategy that all Chiefs could stand behind required constant negotiation between creating goals that were broad but less actionable, and goals that were specific, but may not have resonated with all communities.