Housing NWT has announced its latest increases in monthly rent for tenants of the territory’s market housing program. Bachelor unit rents go up by 13.5 percent with lower increases for other types of home.
Market housing is a form of public housing where tenants pay rents “in line with what people are paying in the private rental market,” according to the GNWT. The homes are offered and maintained by Housing NWT in small communities where no such private rental market exists.
Bachelor units offered as market housing will now cost $1,365 per month, about a 13.5-percent increase on the previous monthly rate of $1,202 (market housing rates include heating fuel).
A one-bed unit’s rent is up about four percent to $1,493, the two-bed rent goes up seven percent to $1,805, and three-bed units now cost $2,032 monthly, up about five percent.
“Housing NWT recognizes that affordability remains a concern for many residents,” the GNWT stated in a news release, “and seeks to balance affordability considerations with the long-term sustainability of the program.”
Advertisement.
Advertisement.
The statement added: “Setting rents closer to market rates helps create a more level playing field for Indigenous governments and private landlords that want to enter the market.”
There are about 250 units in the market housing program across the territory. The GNWT describes the program as being aimed at the likes of teachers, nurses, police officers and other essential workers in small communities with few housing options.
Market housing rents made headlines last year when the GNWT changed the system it used to calculate them, resulting in increases of 35 percent for some tenants. (In some cases increases included the cost of heating fuel, which was previously separate for certain tenants.)
The GNWT now says it reviews rents annually “to keep rates aligned with changing market conditions.”
