N.W.T. seniors angry over rent plan

N.W.T. seniors are not happy with the government's plan to start charging them rent for public housing.

Seniors in public housing units in the territory have been living rent-free, but the government announced this week that starting July 1 seniors will have to start paying at least $70 to $80 per month, depending on which community they live in.

Mary Anne Duschene, 60, lives in Yellowknife's Inukshuk Housing Co-op and said she had a tough time making ends meet as a single mom, never mind saving up for retirement.

"I'm not liking this at all," she said. "It's not like you're saving millions and millions of dollars and going to take the housing corporation out of debt."

According to the government, 377 public housing units are currently occupied by seniors. By charging them rent, the Housing Corporation will make an extra $340,000.

Duschene, who is vision impaired, says the new minimums will be even more of a burden for seniors living in remote communities where the cost of living is much higher.

"There are many of us in the north who were the working poor or who are the working poor and are looking at this and wondering where am I going to get the money from?"

Barb Hood, executive directorof the NWT Seniors Society, said the change will hit seniors with lower incomes especially hard.

"I think for people who are living in poverty, who are living below the poverty line, which a lot of people who are 60 to 65 and older are, it's going to cause a lot of anxiety and it's going to be a challenge."

She said the government should hold off implementing the new rent scales until hearing more from seniors.

"There are lots of ideas about how we should do this," she said. "We're talking about seniors who have lived here their whole lives, so I'm sure they've got lots of wisdom."