Cambridge Bay (July 12/04) - The Cambridge Bay Housing Association has told five tenants to pay their debts or move out by July 23.

One tenant has not paid rent since 1997. Nine tenants received final notices in April 2004. In total, they owed the housing association $55,956.61.

One of the nine has since left, admitting there is no way they can make their payments.

In February, 2004, housing association manager Vicki Aitaok said her office began to take a "respectful but aggressive" stance towards collecting unpaid rent from the nine, considered the worst cases of non-paying tenants.

Numerous letters requesting payment went unanswered, Aitaok said.

On April 27 the housing association sent out final notices. "We personally served them notice," said Aitaok. "They've chosen to ignore everything."

Now five of those tenants face eviction by July 23. The five represent the most extreme cases, said Aitaok. The housing association wants to take care of these first as they have many other tenants getting into the same trouble. "I have 258 people on my list right now, over $800,000 is owed to us," said Aitaok.

This is all happening as the demand for housing continues in Cambridge Bay.

"We have 47 people on a list right now who really want to pay rent and have a place to stay," Aitaok said.