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Inuit family of five homeless in Ottawa

Urban Inuit housing body says eviction was last resort

JANE GEORGE

The Inuit Non-Profit Housing Corporation offers affordable, subsidized housing to Inuit living in Ottawa, but tenants who don’t pay rent or follow the rules risk eviction. (PHOTO COURTESY OF THE INPHC)

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A couple and their three children, originally from Nunavut, are now homeless after being evicted by the Inuit Non-Profit Housing Corporation from their apartment in Vanier, a small district just east of downtown Ottawa.

And, according to Ottawamiut distressed by the situation, this eviction means a father and his son are camping outside in a tent, while a daughter and her mother, who has a serious chronic health condition, are living in shelter housing. An older son is living on the streets.

The trauma of moving South for medical treatment, compounded by culture shock, has left this family overwhelmed, confused, intimidated — and now homeless, says a concerned observer.

Michael Komendat, manager of the INPHC, couldn’t disclose any details about this specific eviction, but he said the Ontario Housing Tribunal had determined there was no choice but to order the eviction.

“There’s been a three-year attempt to keep that person in housing, and it has failed, not only with our agency, but with several other agencies,” Komendat said in a telephone interview from Vanier.

Komendat said generally there must be “pretty substantial” reasons before the tribunal orders an eviction.

The reasons for evictions from non-profit housing units can include disturbing other tenants, destruction of a unit, carrying on illegal activities or non-payment of rent.

But evictions are rare.

“This type of eviction, I think I’ve had two or three in the five years I’ve been here,” Komendat said. “We go to any means possible, we’ll go anywhere to help. We go to any lengths possible to find anything that can help [tenants] and that they would be willing to do.”

Rent for one of the approximately 80 units at the INPHC ranges from a minimum of $85 to 25 per cent of household income per month.

For those receiving welfare or another form of support, a shelter allowance is provided directly to the corporation, or to the tenant.

“They [the tenant] in turn should be giving it to us,” Komendat said.

He said the INPHC has to follow government guidelines in everything it does, and that means collecting rent and making sure the units are in good condition.

“We have a specific program to follow. We stretch those guidelines, but there comes a point you basically have to adhere to it,” Komendat said.

Komedant tries to encourage tenants to follow the rules.

“I say to the tenants, ‘Don’t mess with it, you’re getting rent for such a reasonable amount. Having food and a roof over your head and your children’s head should be paramount.’ Unfortunately, some certain tenants don’t choose that,” he said.

The INPHC also has its own waiting list, and while the city’s waiting list for subsidized housing has 15,000 names and a five-year wait, those on IPHC waiting lists usually only wait six months for a unit.

“We’re the only Inuit non-profit housing corporation in Canada, and when our operating agreements were transferred to the province and then to the municipality, we were able to get an amendment to our operating agreement allowing us to house only persons of Inuit descent — that’s a very important criteria.”

With all that at stake, Komendat said it’s important for the INPHC to keep its reputation untarnished and not be accused of mistreating its tenants.

“This type of publicity is not helpful, and it hurts the image of the Inuit community,” he said.

The INPHC was nearly shut down in the 1990s by Canada Mortgage and Housing over concerns about its operations.

“Now, we’re shining corporate citizens,” Komendat said. “We’ve increased our rental revenues, and now we never run more than three to five per cent a month in arrears. That’s phenomenal for our type of operation.”

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