Occupancy agreement for government housing

Topic

Occupancy agreement for government housing

Case number

• 2021-298 (F&R date: 2022-03-16)

Issue

The Committee explained how the Department of National Defence (DND), through the Canadian Forces Housing Agency (CFHA), uses the occupancy agreements contained in the National Joint Council (NJC) Isolated Post and Government Housing Directive (IPGHD) for Canadian Armed Forces (CAF) members occupying government housing that is not owned or controlled by the CAF.  The Committee found that there is a pressing need to correct the misleading provisions as they can easily lead their members to believe that housing benefits for CAF members are contained in the NJC IPGHD.  

Recommendation

The Committee recommended that the Final Authority (FA) direct appropriate CAF authorities to liaise with CFHA with a view to correcting the misleading provisions in occupancy agreements used for CAF members occupying government housing that is not owned or controlled by DND.

FA Decision

The Chief of Defense Staff (CDS) agreed with the Committee’s finding that that DND/CAF policies may contain misleading provisions that refer to the IPGHD. Having a member sign an appendix (occupancy agreement) to a policy that does not apply to CAF members can be confusing. The CDS agreed that misleading provisions may lead the members to believe that housing benefits for CAF members are included in the NJC IPGHD. Therefore, the CDS agreed with the Committee’s systemic recommendation and directed CMP to ensure the clarification of the CFHA provisions in the occupancy agreement (Appendix L of the IPGHD) used for CAF members occupying government housing at isolated posts where government housing is not owned or controlled by DND. In addition, The CDS directed to direct the appropriate authorities to review DND/CAF policies that refer to isolated posts or the IPGHD with a view to clarifying terminology so that members are not confused with the specified rates that CAF members are subject to when the IPGHD is referenced.