Adam Johnson
Northern News Services
Published Monday, November 5, 2007

FORT LIARD - When crews arrived to patch a three-year-old leak in his building's sewage tank, one fierce critic of the housing corporation in Fort Liard was feeling a bit more positive - for a while, at least.

"It makes me feel a little bit good," said Liard resident Jack Yeadon.

He said it was a "little bit," because the sewage tank is only one of a series of problems with the seniors' complex he and his sons have lived in since 2003, and because work crews found more trouble as they went.

He said one of the workers asked why he could see daylight in the sealed crawlspace below the complex.

"The floor joists are not attached to the pony wall," Yeadon said. "So the pony wall is falling in."

Beyond these problems are damaged fascia and soffit, damaged eavestroughs and ground slumpage around the building - all of which, according to a rental office ruling (filed Oct. 11, 2007), the corporation has been ordered to fix by Dec. 31, 2007, "or as weather permits."

Time and time again, Yeadon said he has been held up by assertions from housing and the GNWT that little can be done because the housing corporation does not own the building that houses Yeadon's family. The building is leased from the Metis Development Corporation.

Though not immediately responsive to media requests at an earlier deadline, the housing corporation did reply to a list of questions the following week.

The reply came in a three-page written document, which outlined the complaints process for dealing with housing issues, and the housing corporation's relationship with private landlords.

According to the document, it is the landlord who is ultimately responsible for the condition of the building in a situation such as Yeadon's (though the corporation would not comment directly on any specific case).

"Where a private landlord is non-compliant with the terms of their lease agreement with the Corporation, the Corporation works with the landlord to ensure that the terms of the agreement are met," the letter said.

The housing corporation went on to state these concerns normally come through a Local Housing Organization (LHO) in the community.

However, as both the document and Yeadon attest, there is no LHO in Fort Liard.

"The LHO here is kind of a nebulous thing," Yeadon said. However, he said he believes creating a more permanent solution in Fort Liard could make a serious difference.

"It would not only help out me, it would help out everyone in town."

Yeadon's concerns date back to early 2004, not long after he and his family moved into the seniors' complex due to concerns with mould in their previous home.

In an earlier letter, dated Feb. 27, 2004, Nahendeh MLA Kevin Menicoche said he "(did) not have the authority to request a rush on this matter," referring to repairs on Yeadon's previous home, one of the Kotaneelee Housing Association's rental units.

"Kotaneelee Housing units are managed and run by the Canadian Mortgage Housing Corporation and the Acho Dene Koe band, and the NWT Housing Corporation has limited input in the management of these units."

According to the housing corporation's document, the GNWT is renovating 20 units in Fort Liard, with future plans to build 13 more. In July, the housing corporation took over the Kotaneelee units.

"The renovations are performed in a priority order with the units with the greatest need for repair being repaired first," the release reads.

Presently, five units are unoccupied "to allow renovations to be undertaken."

Yeadon has lived with his family in Fort Liard's seniors' complex since December 2003. He, his late wife and two children were moved to the one-level four-plex by the housing corporation. They were told their previous home was unsafe for Yeadon's youngest, Jackson - then a newborn - because of a serious mould problem.