Wait for public housing means this Behchokǫ̀, N.W.T., man is living in a tent

The tent is big enough to fit a mattress, small table and a wood-burning stove, leaving just enough room to walk around. 

For now, this is the place George Chocolate calls home. He began living in it in September after his own house burnt down in July. The tent sits on the same property.

Chocolate, 63, has lived in Behchokǫ̀, N.W.T., all his life. He has applied for public housing through the community's local housing authority and the territorial government. 

Six months after losing his home to fire, he's still waiting for a public housing unit. It's “a little bit frustrating,” he said. 

Before he moved into the wall tent, Chocolate stayed in a few other places such as his sister’s house and a teepee structure that he had wrapped in a tarp to protect himself from the elements. 

When it started to get cold, the Tłı̨chǫ government supplied Chocolate with a canvas and helped him build a floor, a short wooden wall, and a door for the entrance, said his sister Rose Bailey.

Bailey has been helping Chocolate with his housing applications, since he doesn’t own a phone or have reliable access to the internet. 

While he waits for a housing unit, Chocolate has been going to his sister’s house to shower and do his laundry.

These solutions are only temporary and Bailey longs to see her brother in permanent housing. 

“He needs a warm place because there is no running water, nothing,” she said. “He does everything at my house.” 

She's also concerned for his health, as he deals with the cold weather without a washroom, running water or electricity at his tent.  

She said she's noticed sores on his legs and that he had been coughing. She worries he may have pneumonia. 

Jane Weyallon Armstrong, the MLA for Monfwi, has been advocating on behalf of Chocolate to N.W.T’s housing minister. She says she received an email from the minister's office last fall, saying Chocolate was at the top of the public housing waitlist. 

“According to the email, [Chocolate] was on the list and he was the next person to go into the unit because his safety and his wellbeing and his health is affected by living in a tent,” she said.