Yellowknife (Feb 14/03) - Some public housing tenants say they are having a tough time decoding a new rent scale.

When Jennifer Moss, a 23-year-old mother of two, got a letter from the NWT Housing Corporation regarding the revised rent scale, she didn't know what to make of it.

Jennifer Moss says she and her children, five-year-old Preston and 11-month-old Ashton, need subsidized housing while she attends Aurora College. - Erin Fletcher/NNSL photo

She's been living in subsidized housing for two years and is two years into the four-year teacher program at Aurora College.

Moss has been paying $32 a month for her two-bedroom apartment. She fears with the new rent scale she will be paying as much as $200 because part of her student financial assistance (SFA) will be assessed as income under the new formula.

"I'd like to see this totally stopped," she said, adding if the government counts SFA as income then it should be counting treaty claims and foster child support, which it won't under the new formula.

"If they are going to say money is money then that is what it should be."

Gary McLellan, director of policy, for the NWT Housing Corporation, said it will take tenants time to adjust to the new formula. But in the end it will benefit those who need a break the most.

The harmonization project was started several years ago and has taken some time to implement because of changes in government.

The program aims to harmonize the income assistance clients with the rest of the subsidized housing clients. Seniors who used to be exempt from rent, regardless of their income level, will now pay a nominal fee, said McLellan. The seniors' rent will be used to supplement other rents like those for single parent families.

"The government is not making any money and theoretically not losing any either," said McLellan, stressing the new system is not a "money grab ... We are re-distributing based on income."

All tenants will go through a monthly assessment, much like social assistance. The tenants will report all income and a rent rate will be determined.

Treaty claims, foster child support, child tax benefits and NWT child benefits will not be counted as income.

Portions of the student financial assistance -- the grant and remissible loan -- will be counted as income while the non-refundable loan will not be.

McLellan said 58 percent of the tenants will get a decrease in their rent on April 1 when the changes start.

What is subsidized housing?

Subsidized housing has been around a long time in NWT.

In smaller communities public housing made up 98 per cent of the available residences in the 1980s. Even MLAs often lived in public housing, said McLellan.

Some people have lived all their lives in public housing including many of the seniors who currently live in the facilities.

"Social housing is not meant to be a permanent residence. It is a temporary residence for people who have fallen on hard times," said McLellan of today's use of public housing.

Three-hundred and two of the 1,823 subsidized housing units in Yellowknife are managed by the Yellowknife Housing Authority, the same authority who manages Moss' apartment.

"The public housing rent scale in NWT is the second most generous public housing, scale across Canada," said McLellan.

The tenants pay 25 per cent of the rent while the rest is paid through government grants.

"In our society, everybody can't afford to look after themselves, especially when it comes to housing," said Yellowknife Housing Authority chief executive officer Jim White.

There are 125 families waiting for a subsidized unit. Of those, between 25 and 30 are "quite needy," said White.

He said regardless of the present housing crisis, there is always a need for subsidized housing.

"It gives them a place to sleep and keep warm. Hopefully it gives them a leg up, but it isn't always enough."

Any family making less than $45,000 a year is considered to be low-income in Yellowknife and qualifies for subsidized housing.