Rules governing Nunavut’s public housing wait-lists remain murky to many

Brian Tagalik has been sleeping in this tent outside the legislative assembly in Iqaluit since last month in an effort to get his family further ahead on the waiting list for public housing. (PHOTO BY COURTNEY EDGAR)

Brian Tagalik moved his family into a tent outside the legislative assembly in Iqaluit last month, when he learned that living in a tent would give his family 100 extra points in the system that governs the waiting list for public housing.

Tagalik’s family has been on that list for four years, even though his girlfriend has been working for the Government of Nunavut’s Department of Health for 14 years.

Tagalik only learned after the family pitched their tent, during a meeting with MLAs and housing representatives, that they would need to stay living there for three months if they wanted to get those points.

Even now, Tagalik doesn’t know how many points he has or where he ranks on that waiting list. He also doesn’t know if he should plan to camp in that tent for another three months or another three years, or what will speed up his chances or increase the wait.

Similarly, Tagalik says he didn’t realize until after the fact that his family’s decision to leave Iqaluit for six months to live in Rankin Inlet would result in them being put back at the bottom of the waiting list once they returned.

The Tagaliks have been waiting for subsidized housing for four years.

Several other Iqaluit residents who are homeless, couch-surfing or are Inuit staff with the GN—all on the waiting list—have told Nunatsiaq News they experienced similar situations of being kept in the dark about what the rules are.

One woman said her family had been updating their public housing application since 2003 until they become owners of a Habitat for Humanity house last year.

Nunatsiaq News has spent the past three weeks trying, without success, to obtain an interview with representatives at the Nunavut Housing Corp and the Iqaluit Housing Authority who could speak about the point system’s specifics.

“I assume you don’t just want to speak about how the point system works but also want someone who can justify it,” said Josh Long, communications manager at the Nunavut Housing Corp.

“Only the president can do that and he is very busy, which I am sure you can appreciate, but we are trying our hardest to get you that interview. I believe it is important that the public know this information too.”

Long sent Nunatsiaq News a January 2015 document called the Tenant Relations Manual, which breaks down parts of the point system used in determining how someone ranks in priority for public housing.

But some details remain unclear.

Take the residency requirements that Tagalik said resulted in his family being sent to the bottom of the waiting list. These requirements include exceptions that would allow an applicant in some cases to leave town for three months to two years, but do not specify the circumstances.

The manual also says that housing authorities can set up their own residency requirements.

A credit score is done to determine if the applicant is a suitable tenant. No debts can be owed to landlords or energy companies in Nunavut, according to the manual.

The application must be updated every six months. If it is not updated or if any information is found to be incorrect, the application can be discarded. This could be difficult for people who are couch-surfing or staying in shelters on and off, as the addresses, rent amounts and people lived with on which dates can be hard to track.

The third section of the application process determines if a potential tenant is a “suitable tenant.” According to the manual, this is where the housing authority investigates if an applicant has an unspecified “poor credit rating,” a history of unacceptable upkeep or damage to a housing unit, “a history of affecting other tenants’ right to quiet enjoyment,” or have ever been convicted of criminal or illegal activities on local housing organization premises.

Long said that, while this document is provided by the Nunavut Housing Corp to the housing authorities as a guideline, the authorities have the right to change the criteria.

He said, to the best of his knowledge, this point system and priority-ranked waiting list is mostly under the control of the housing authorities in the end.

Erika Alexander, the Iqaluit Housing Authority’s senior tenant relations officer, said the authority follows the manual’s guidelines.

“We follow it to a T,” Alexander said. “But also on a case-by-case basis.”

She added that, in the end, it is actually not IHA that has the final say about the point system and waiting list, as they pass their information to the housing corp.’s regional district office in Cape Dorset. She says it is actually Cape Dorset that is the final authority responsible for the point system and prioritization in the public housing wait-list for Iqaluit.

Since the violent storm that rocked Iqaluit earlier in the month, with winds that reached 140 km winds per hour and ripped the roofs off buildings, the Tagalik family has drifted apart in their living arrangements. His partner and children are couch-surfing again with family, while he stays in the tent to get those extra housing points.

“Another Inuit family to shreds in the mess of Iqaluit. I’ve lost faith in this joke of a territory,” Tagalik said.

“They don’t want to and will never accommodate the lower percentile…. My father was right when he was the vice president of Nunavut Housing Corp. a decade ago—no money, no change. It’s only gotten 10 times worse since. It’s all a mystery. They don’t know how it works.”