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Woman denied mortgage

Christine Grimard
Northern News Services
Friday, March 23, 2007

YELLOWKNIFE - NWT Housing Corporation policy documents should be available to the public, says a woman whose request to see their mortgage policies was denied.

Joanna Maguire said she has lived in Yellowknife since 1991. She left the NWT in 2003 to go to school, and returned in April 2006.

She applied for a mortgage through the NWT Housing Corporation last October.

Maguire received a letter in February stating that she was denied.

The letter stated that she did not qualify as an NWT resident because she filed taxes in Calgary while away at school, listing Calgary as her place of residence.

When she asked if she could see a copy of the policies outlining why she was denied, she said she was told it was an "internal document" and that she couldn't see it.

"How can they be accountable to people?" said Maguire. "There's no way to hold them accountable when you can't go through the policies."

Steve Dicks, communications advisor for NWT Housing Corporation, said that the organization prefers to deal individually with people rather than give them access to the documents.

"They're not distributed externally because without training and expertise the policies are open to misinterpretation," said Dicks.

He confirmed that other than the brief descriptions of programs available on the website, all information requests go through the office.

Dicks said the corporation has no policy on not disclosing information, but that any access is up to the discretion of the individual handling the inquiry. Maguire said she was told that a communications person would be in contact with her.

She has yet to hear again from the corporation.

"For me not to be able to check up on anything, it's very hard for someone in the communities," said Maguire.

Maguire is a single parent with a three-year-old daughter.

While she said she would like to appeal the decision, without access to the policies her denial was based upon, she doesn't know how to do that.

"I guess I'll just never get a house," she said.