Inuvik (Dec 06/04) - Housing Minister David Krutko refuses to discuss why a whopping 350 of the 380 mortgages held through the NWT Housing Corporation are in arrears.

He told News/North he is, "new in this position so I don't want to respond to something I'm not too comfortable talking about."

Of those behind in their payments, more than 80 owe one to five months worth of payments, while about 265 are more than five months behind, said Fred Koe, president of the corporation.

The net result of the delinquent home-owners is that $3.9 million is owed to the corporation.

Mortgage-holders with the NWT Housing Corporation may soon find skipping monthly payments is not an option without consequences.

Koe said while there is a monthly process of sending letters seeking repayment, trying to collect has been a toothless process.

"There was a period where we weren't stringent in our collections and obviously that's what happened to allow the arrears to build up," he said.

The corporation is now at the point where, because the mortgages are financed with public money, it must start recovering payments, he said.

"We're a public Crown agency," he said, adding money is received through CMHC for public housing and also from the territorial government.

Koe said there is a myriad of reasons why people neglect their payments.

"They have other obligations, their financial situation has changed or they are spending their money on other things," he said.

Thus far, foreclosure has been a last resort, he said.

"We haven't been doing that, but we're now just starting to move to foreclose on some that have been long outstanding."

To secure a mortgage with the corporation, Koe said one must fall within the income threshold limit, set based on the community involved.

"In Aklavik the core need income threshold is $70,300. In Inuvik it's $85,900," he said.

"If you are making more than that you are deemed able to look after yourself and you shouldn't need a subsidy from the government," Koe said.

"Their income would determine what they could afford."

At this stage, Koe said housing authorities across the territories have nothing to do with mortgages through the corporation.

"They do public housing. Those are rents based on income as well."

Rent collection is another hurdle the corporation faces.

"We have 2,300 public housing units across the Territories and the arrears are over $5 million," he said.

"A considerable amount of that is deemed as doubtful accounts because of the age of the arrears and the situation of the clients."

As of April 1, 2005, Koe said the corporation is looking to transfer the mortgage payment collection responsibility to the districts and local housing authorities.

"They are there in the communities, we're not. They have a better understanding of the clients they deal with on a daily basis," he said.

"We are working within the corporation to assist clients, provide more counselling and looking at ways they can get out of debt and be able to afford it and have a good lifestyle."