November 26, 1998

Delegates say public housing rents discourage working

Delegates at a Nunavut-wide conference on housing and community government had lots of complaints about high rents and the lack of social housing.

Nunatsiaq News

IQALUIT — More Nunavut residents may want to work if they're not penalized with higher rents as soon as they get jobs.

That's what Arviat Mayor Peter Kritaqliluk told a roomful of his Nunavut counterparts at a housing, community government and transportation conference in Iqaluit Tuesday.

"A lot of people no longer want to work because they know their rent will go up," he said, commenting on the Government of the Northwest Territories' housing policy to gear rental of social housing units to income levels. "As community leaders we have heard this many times from the people we represent."

Social housing rents are determined as a percentage of income, so when household income increases, so does the rent.

Kritaqliluk said in his community, where many jobs are seasonal, rental increases are a deterrent to seeking employment. He suggested a rent scale review be one of the first priorities for the Nunavut legislative assembly next year.

But Sarah Flynn, the assistant deputy minister of housing in Nunavut's Department of Housing, Community Government and Transportation, told the more than 100 community representatives that the current rent scale will remain in place.

She added, though, that a task force has been established to examine the entire housing issue within Nunavut and is expected to present a report to Nunavut MLAs after April 1, 1999.

"It will be up to them and what they think is best," she said about any changes which may take place.

Community leaders gathered in Iqaluit this week for the three-day conference to discuss such topics as funding, legislation, municipal housing operations and what changes will take place during the transition of the department from the GNWT to the government of Nunavut.