Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I am going to use this occasion to ask questions to the Minister responsible for Housing. Quite often I’ll have complaints sent to my office, called in or certainly e-mailed in, about health and safety issues. Whether they’re about leaky windows, heat not on, steps not shoveled, complaints all orientated to, actually, the landlord. A lot of these calls that come in, they’re all Yellowknife Housing Authority clients. It got me to thinking, does the Housing Corporation instructor work with our housing authorities to actually bring complaints forward to the rentals office against landlords that aren’t the GNWT? In my research, I’ve yet to find one complaint, but yet we have continued complaints come in all based around those types of factors, but yet the landlord of these buildings never is brought before the rentals office. But if the shoe was reversed or the situation was reversed, my goodness, they’re the first ones trying to get these folks out of there.
I’m going to ask the Minister of Housing, how often has the Housing Corporation worked with any of the authorities to take these types of landlords, that aren’t GNWT landlords, to the rentals office for dereliction of their responsibilities under the Residential Tenancies Act, as I’ve highlighted, and if he hasn’t, why not?
Thank you, Mr. Hawkins. The Minister of Housing, Minister R.C. McLeod.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. We don’t work with the tenants in market housing to help take the landlord to court. Sometimes we will get some concerns from those that are living in market housing and we tell them that their option is to go to the rental office. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Mr. Speaker, they are a third-party source tenant situation here. We have Yellowknife Housing renting the units from a landlord. The tenant itself through Yellowknife Housing, by way of example, has no tenancy rights on this because they are directly responsible. It is the housing authority that has a direct contract with the landlord. That is where the responsibility lies.
So I ask again to the Housing Minister, if this isn’t the case, why isn’t this the case? Because I can tell you I have had habitual complaints all built around things like heating, access, safety and other responsibilities, all directly related to the Residential Tenancies Act, that say the landlord must provide, and if they ignore these requests, what are we to do?
Mr. Speaker, in the Member’s first question he didn’t point out the fact that they were renting these from our local housing authority and was involved as a third-party renter. If that was the case, then I would encourage the tenants to work with the local housing authority to identify some of the problems there because they would be leasing these from the private developer, and if there is an opportunity to get some work done and they are not willing to do it, then the option might be there for the local housing authority to work with the tenants to take them to the rental officer. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Mr. Speaker, they do, and they take them to the housing authority and the housing authority takes the complaints to the landlord and nobody does anything. So I’m asking, why don’t we have a rule on the books, or why don’t we have a Minister’s directive that if the landlords are not responding to the needs of the tenant, which are furthermore supported by the needs of the housing authority that they believe that they are valid, and again under the Residential Tenancies Act, that they will be taken to the rentals office and they will be treated as appropriate? Thank you.
Mr. Speaker, I would like to think that our local housing authority, if they are leasing these units of the developer, that they would have some say into the maintenance of these units, and if the work is not being done, then I would encourage them to… There are some options they may have at their disposal, but I would encourage them to work with the rental officer to see if there is opportunity there to have the landlord do some of the necessary repairs because, at the end of the day, we are paying the landlord to use these units and if there are opportunities for us to use some of the stuff at our disposal, then we may have to do that. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. McLeod. Final, short supplementary, Mr. Hawkins.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. They, again, are doing these things, but the housing authority isn’t taking the landlord of the units, that we lease and pay a hefty sum for, to the rentals office. So I would like the Minister to show some leadership on this issue to say that if we have anything outstanding over 30 days, that falls under the Residential Tenancies Act, we are going to start filing, and that will motivate these landlords to comply with the rules as clearly stipulated under the Residential Tenancies Act. He could do that today and he could send a letter not only to just the Yellowknife Housing Authority but to all authorities so, therefore, our people are treated fairly and respectfully as outlined in the Residential Tenancies Act. Thank you.
Mr. Speaker, I would like to work with the Member, and if any other Members over there have specific cases where I don’t hear from any of the other communities, but if there are specific cases, then the Member has raised them and the Minister will show leadership and try and rectify the problem before it gets to the floor of the House. This is the first time I have heard of it, and we need to work with each other sometimes to ensure we try to deal with these issues. If we are unable to deal with these issues, or are unwilling to deal with these issues, then we raise them on the floor of the House to bring them out to the public, but give us that opportunity and we will take care of it. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
