N.W.T. gov't says board of Fort Resolution's housing authority wouldn't respond to its questions

A housing official with the N.W.T. government says the decision to dissolve the board for the Fort Resolution Housing Authority was made in order to "stabilize the finances" of the board and address "operational challenges."

She also said the former board effectively stonewalled the government's efforts to get any information about how it was operating.

"We want to ensure that our tenants and our applicants for housing are being served, our current policies are being followed and that our assets are protected," said Joletta Larocque, Housing N.W.T.'s vice-president of programs and district operations.

The government said last week that it had appointed an administrator and that an independent review would be done of the board's work. The end goal is to reinstate and train a new local board, Larocque said.  

Fort Resolution's local housing authority is responsible for 96 units — 85 are public housing and 11 are market rentals. One is part of a home ownership program, said Larocque.

The local housing authority staff report to the board. The board, appointed by the housing minister, oversees hiring, human resources and financial responsibilities, and sees that maintenance and repairs are completed. 

The board follows a community housing service agreement, which allows local housing organizations to operate as a property agent. Housing N.W.T. periodically monitors how local organizations adhere to that agreement and identifies any concerns. 

According to Larocque, a routine spot-audit of how the Fort Resolution Housing Authority administered its programs, including a financial audit, found operational issues that could not be resolved. She said the government attempted to work with the local board before making the rare decision to dissolve it and install an auditor to investigate concerns. 

Housing N.W.T. is conducting a full operational review, she said.

"It really is about stabilizing the finances, addressing any of the operational challenges and then developing a stability plan," Larocque said.

She said government officials struggled to get information "in a timely manner, or at all" about repairs and performance appraisals.

She said "numerous" registered letters from the N.W.T. government to staff went unanswered by the board in Fort Resolution, and that several Housing N.W.T. employees and the vice-president made an in-person visit to the community where board members would not meet with them.  

"Despite trying to work with them for quite a while now — we also tried to get an investigator to do some of that information-seeking — the housing authority did not provide the information," Larocque said.

Housing N.W.T. also found human resources concerns that Larocque said she was "not at liberty to share."

The investigation will look at how the board handled human resources and repairs. Housing N.W.T. uses a point-rating system in its application process. The investigation will review how this point system was used and confirm the points were applied correctly, said Larocque. 

The housing authority will be considered stabilized once it meets the terms of the community housing service agreement, she said. 

The interim administrator will review progress every three months, with the goal to reinstate a board by working with local leadership, said Larocque.

This is the third time the N.W.T. government has put a local housing organization under administrative control. 

Removing a board is considered a last resort, according to Larocque, and she said there are just three instances in the past where other housing authority boards were dissolved and rebuilt: in Norman Wells, Tulita and Fort Simpson. In those cases, staff worked with a local committee of leadership to nominate community members for a new board.

In a news release, N.W.T. Housing Minister Lucy Kuptana described the change in Fort Resolution as an effort to "restore local governance."

"This decision to place the Fort Resolution Housing Authority under administration was not made lightly," she said in a statement.