Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I have learned of yet another gap in the authority of the rental officer as laid out in our Residential Tenancies Act. The rental officer is empowered by this act to consider problems brought to his attention by either renters or landlords and to render decisions on these conflicts. He generally deals with matters such as unpaid rent or interpretations of the conditions of a rental agreement. Most people can appeal to the rental officer for an intervention and decision to solve their impasse. However, the Residential Tenancies Act does not provide for the rental officer to deal with anything encountered by 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.
Transitional housing is intended as a stepping stone in the continuum of housing possibilities, a waypoint on the route from homelessness to homeownership. Yellowknife has a couple of transition homes, most notably Bailey House and the one run by the Centre for Northern Families. A recent disagreement between a renter and a landlord of a transition home has highlighted that there is no avenue of appeal for residents in this situation. The rental officer refuses to consider any conflict where transitional housing is involved, and rightly so. He cannot consider intervention under the Residential Tenancies Act because there is no provision identified. This just points out another area where the only avenue of appeal for residents is to go to court, a rather unlikely prospect for most people. It is another reason for the establishment of an ombudsman.
The other solution and probably much cheaper, Mr. Speaker, is to amend the definitions in the
Residential Tenancies Act to provide for a definition of transitional housing. I know that amendments to the act were completed just last spring and that the Minister will probably tell me that no one brought this matter up when the amendments were being reviewed and discussed. That may be so, but is it not incumbent on the department when amending any act to anticipate and consider all possible situations and ensure that the new act will cover any eventuality for many years to come? I say yes it is. That did not happen last year, Mr. Speaker. Transitional housing was missed and the Justice department needs to revisit the Residential Tenancies Act and make the changes necessary.
All NWT renters and landlords should be covered by this act, no matter what type of accommodation they are in. Thank you.