GN freezes public housing rents

If you live in public housing and happen to make extra money this summer, don’t worry: the Nunavut Housing Corporation won’t make you pay more rent.

As of July 1, the housing corporation has frozen rents for at least six months — the first step in a process that will see a new public housing rent scale for Nunavut.

Although some tenants might pay less during the freeze, no one will pay more — even if their household incomes go up.

Kelvin Ng, the territorial housing minister, says the Government of Nunavut doesn’t want to penalize tenants as it finishes work on the new rent scale.

He said that although the government hoped to have the rent scale finished by now, it needed more time to consult Nunavut’s local housing associations and housing authorities, which they call “Local Housing Organizations,” or “LHOs.”

Since that isn’t likely to happen until September at the earliest, the government doesn’t want to punish anyone who gets work this summer when the sealift and construction seasons begin.

“There’s been big concerns about penalizing people who get seasonal employment or try to take the initiative to advance their lives. It’s a fact that when that happens, there’s a disincentive, because your rent goes up,” Ng said.

“So we wanted to put that in place and recognize that we tried to get the rent scale totally revamped before this time, but we haven’t been able to do that, so that’s why we have a freeze, so as not to penalize those individuals for the transition until we sort out the new rent scale.”

Ng says the government hopes to have the new rent scale ready to go by Jan. 1, 2003.

That means they’ll have their consultation work done toward the end of this fall.

“I would think that, realistically, by October, mid-to-late October, we would have a pretty fleshed-out policy that we’ll be putting forward,” Ng said.

“We’re trying to put it into place by January, but the hold-up right now is that we’re trying to get the next round of consultations with the LHOs, the housing authorities. Because of the spring and the summer, we haven’t been able to do that.”

The government has made no secret of what it wants to do — remove provisions that make it more attractive for tenants to stay unemployed than to get work.

Right now, monthly rents are based on the gross — or before-tax — income brought in by all members of the household. Public housing tenants in Nunavut have complained about this formula for years, saying it produces rent calculations that are unaffordable.

To fix that, Ng said the housing corporation is now looking at the idea of using net, rather than gross income to calculate household rents.

“Net” income means the amount of pay that a wage-earner actually takes home after deductions for things like income tax, Employment Insurance, and the Canada Pension Plan.

But Ng cautioned that not all deductions from a tenant’s wages may count.

“Of course, you’ve got to be careful about when you talk about net income, because if someone has a garnishee because of a settlement on child support or something like that that’s been deducted, or a debt, then that wouldn’t necessarily be considered as an allowable reduction.”

Another measure is to double the $32-a-month rent figures that the housing corporation charges tenants on income support.

Ng said that’s because Nunavut’s housing associations and housing authorities say they want more revenue to cover their operating and maintenance costs

“There’s general consensus already to raise that,” Ng said. The LHOs have all made that recommendation, to make it a bit more reflective of actual costs of administration. They’ve actually suggested doubling it right now, and that’s what we’re looking at.”

Rent reduction for overcrowded or sub-standard units is another possibility, as well as special exemptions for students, youth, and elders.

“It’s trying to bring some consistency to encouraging individuals to be self-reliant,” Ng said.