As the Trudeau government prepares to release this year’s federal budget, Indigenous organizations estimate it would take more than $425 billion to close the infrastructure gap in their communities by the government’s 2030 goal.
While the bulk of that staggering sum comes from the Assembly of First Nations’ nearly $350-billion assessment of the infrastructure gap facing an on-reserve population of 400,000, the assembly is not alone in this exercise.
The national organization for 70,000 Inuit in Canada says it would cost $75.1 billion to close the gap in Inuit Nunangat, the traditional northern Inuit homeland encompassing 51 communities and four regions.
Well, think about it this way:
A standard house for 4 people is probably in the range of 200k - 400k. Then you would need supporting infrastructure for each house - sewage and gas pipe connections, electrical connections, road infrastructure, all that jazz. That’s probably another 100k right there. And then public infrastrcture for things like schools, parks, firefighters, police, road equipment, etc. It’s easy to see why the costs would add up quickly to roughly $1 million or more per person. Managing city infrastructure is really damn expensive, especially for more ineffective housing options (hellooooooooo, suburbia!).
The numbers you’ve listed are not even $1 million per 4 people, let alone per person.
I’m not saying it’s impossible, it just seems like a lot to me. Maybe it includes long term maintenance costs?