The Yukon Anti-Poverty Coalition would like to thank local landlords, property management companies, housing organizations and realtors for their involvement in the CDF sponsored project which looked at how to increase the provision of stable, safe and healthy rental housing in Whitehorse.
“We wanted to find out first-hand what barriers landlords were facing when renting to a variety of tenants,” says Bill Thomas, chair of YAPC’s Housing Task Force. “While developing “A Home for Everyone” we realized that programming in other jurisdictions might help solve some of the issues facing low income and vulnerable tenants here in Whitehorse.”
The project included research into landlord support programs in other jurisdictions, information gathered from Whitehorse landlords and a community workshop with the intent to improve collaboration and develop next steps. Fifty-one landlords participated in an on-line survey and 16 attended the community workshop.
“We know that private sector landlords are not responsible for social programs; we also know they often provide housing to people who may struggle with financial and other issues,” says YAPC Coordinator, Kristina Craig. “The report has 10 recommendations that we will examine over the summer months and we are looking forward to collaborating further with landlords in the fall.”
The first stage of this project was the development of an education curriculum for tenants that can be used to help inform tenants and landlords of their rights and responsibilities. The curriculum, called Tenant Wisdom, has been delivered three times by Blood Ties Four Directions with a fourth offering planned for the fall. The Tenant Wisdom concept received positive feedback from the landlords as well.
The final report can be downloaded here.