Of all NWT communities, Hay River had the most public housing evictions in 2024, according to Housing NWT.
Territory-wide, the majority of evictions took place during one of the coldest, darkest months of the year: February.
SA国际影视传媒 has obtained a document, via an access to information request, that outlines how many evictions took place in various communities last year. According to that document, there were 17 total evictions in 2024. Six of those happened in February.
Hay River had the most evictions SA国际影视传媒� six SA国际影视传媒� followed closely by Yellowknife, which had five.
The most common reason for an eviction, according to the documents, was disturbances and threats of violence. Illegal activities was another common reason.
In the legislative assembly last March, Tu Nedhe-Wiilideh MLA Richard Edjericon asked Housing Minister Lucy Kuptana what the department is doing to address drug dealers in public housing units.
"We need to work with the , we need to work with the communities, we need to report illegal activities," said Kuptana.
The minister also mentioned an app, called, so people to alert police to suspicious activity.
"If you don't want to report with Crime Stoppers, you can report with this app and it would be anonymous. So that's important for people to know," the minister said.
To obtain an eviction order, local housing organizations (LHOs), need to prove the illegal activity to a rental officer. Other reasons for evictions in 2024 included arrears and what Housing NWT denotes as "failure to comply with additional obligations." The number of those evictions were two and one, respectively.
Ndilo, Fort Simpson and Whati all had the fewest evictions, at one apiece.
In a separate assembly session, Dehcho MLA Sheryl Yakeleya asked Kuptana why evictions have been happening during the winter months.
"Many of these people have arrears but they're willing to pay to stay in their home," said Yakeleya. "I want to know how we can help these people."
Public housing calculates a person's rent based on their income level. Yakeleya added that she's heard from constituents in public housing who have lost their jobs or taken on caregiver roles for their family but their rents have not been reduced.
"The cost of living is getting higher SA国际影视传媒� it's becoming harder and harder to find solutions, and we need to work together to help these constituent residents of the NWT," Yakeleya said.
Kuptana explained that there is no policy to prevent evictions during the winter months. As housing minister, she added that she could consider not evicting someone, but it would depend on the circumstances.
