On-reserve housing crises have been measured by governments, agencies and First Nations for decades. In Canada, housing evaluation is conducted using a universal metric, Core Housing Need, which also forms the basis of policy and program responses. The three Core Housing Need components—adequacy, affordability and suitability—have been critiqued for being inapplicable in many non-urban settings and especially on-reserve. Using a community-developed housing needs assessment tool in Eabametoong First Nation it is revealed that residential crowding has multiple dimensions and causes which are not currently captured. New understandings of crowding—or housing suitability—allows for distinct solutions to be created breaking the cycle of colonial approaches to addressing the housing crisis.

数十年来，政府，机构和原住民一直在评估储备金住房危机。在加拿大，住房评估是使用通用指标“核心住房需求”进行的，它也是政策和计划应对措施的基础。有人批评住房需求的三个核心要素-充足性，可负担性和适用性-不适用于许多非城市环境，尤其是保留地。通过使用Eabametoong First Nation中社区开发的住房需求评估工具，发现居民拥挤具有多个方面和原因，目前尚无法解决。对拥挤（或住房适用性）的新理解允许创建独特的解决方案，从而打破解决住房危机的殖民主义方法的循环。