Housing rent scale leaves families in poverty

I have approached the members of our legislative assembly about this and I have not received a response or even a letter to answer what I believe is a very serious issue for Nunavut residents.

So I am making it public. It is very hard to get MLAs to respond.

My family net income per year is approximately $89,000. We are a family of six.

I think when we say my family net income is $89,000 a year that MLAs think that we take it all home.

More than half of it is deducted before we get our hands on it.

Now, to explain why I know that the system is not working for people like me: my monthly bills are approximately $2,368.

And the usual deductions taken off my cheques are $1,514. The totals for both equals $3,882 per month.

Left is $13,416 for the whole year for our food, gas and clothing. Per month, that’s $1,118.

Now can any of you MLAs live on that every month?

My point for all these calculations is the rent scale: it’s not working up here.

I have applied for my own house in the past and I have been refused, because I don’t make enough money, according to the housing authority. Now, if they know I am not making enough money, how come they are charging me $1,578 in rent per month?

After all our deductions and basic expenses, our house gets more than half of what goes into our pockets.

We, the voters, should really put that into perspective. Are we going to sit there and let our government ruin us? There must be someone at the legislative assembly who can understand this situation and do something about it.

I and my husband have been talking about moving out of the housing unit and making a qammaq or shack to get out of this crazy system, which has been put uon us so people can start owning their own houses.

Working to make ends meeting has really become a strain on working people like me up north.

What can I do to make you, the Government of Nunavut, understand where we are?

Maybe when I get into debt with housing and I become homeless is when you will begin to believe that this isn’t working at all.

We, the voters, should really put this into perspective when we vote next time for new MLAs in the next election. I think they have been in office too long and we need new faces at the legislative assembly.

Peah Sowdluapik
Pangnirtung
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