Thank you, Madam Speaker. Today I want to speak to the third item in my trilogy about inadequacies in the Residential Tenancies Act.
Most people can appeal to the rental officer for an intervention and a decision to solve their impasse. However, the Residential Tenancies Act does not allow the rental officer to deal with renters and landlords of transitional housing. There is no definition in the act for the term “transitional housing” or “transition home” so the rental officer has no authority over this kind of rental premise.
This failing was recognized by the NWT rental officer in his latest annual report for 2010, tabled in this House in 2011. The rental officer said, “Transitional housing is an intermediate step between living in a shelter or homelessness and independent living. Transitional housing is typically provided for a term and offers tenants their own private rooms and supportive living environment, including opportunities to develop the life skills necessary to maintain independent living. This form of housing is gaining in popularity and is considered by many to be a missing component in the efforts to fight homelessness. The current act excludes this form of housing and, therefore, provides no statutory structure to transitional housing landlords or tenants, or any method of dispute resolution other than the courts. Expanding the application of the act to include transitional housing will clearly require specific provisions and exemptions that apply to the program. However, this is not unlike the current provisions that specifically apply to public housing. Both landlords and tenants of transitional housing will benefit from the application of the act through defined rights and obligations, and a clear and simple dispute resolution process.” It says it very well.
The rental officer refuses to consider any conflict where transitional housing is involved, and rightly so. It would be against the law. He cannot consider intervention under the Residential Tenancies Act because there is no provision identified. As pointed out, the only avenue available to settle a dispute for transition housing landlords and tenants is for the parties to go to court; a rather unlikely prospect for most people, as I mentioned last week.
Amendments to the Residential Tenancies Act were done in 2008 but the issue of transition housing was not addressed. The government needs to amend the definitions in the Residential Tenancies Act to provide for a definition of transitional housing. All NWT renters and landlords should be covered by this act no matter what type of accommodation they live in.
Thank you, Ms. Bisaro. The honourable Member for Deh Cho, Mr. Nadli.
