(Report of the Auditor General of Canada to the Legislative Assembly of Nunavut-Nunavut Housing Corporation)
Iqaluit, May 22, 2008-The Nunavut Housing Corporation is not monitoring the activities of its community partners enough to know whether public housing units are allocated to eligible applicants who need them most, says Auditor General Sheila Fraser in her Report tabled today in the Legislative Assembly. Nor does the Corporation know what maintenance and repairs are needed in public housing.
"More than 50 percent of all dwellings in Nunavut are public housing units managed by the Corporation through community partners," said Ms. Fraser. "It is the Corporation's responsibility to ensure that its partners deliver the public housing program fairly and according to established procedures."
In the files of six community partners, the audit found little evidence of proper assessment of applications for public housing, allocation of housing units, and inspection and rating of the condition of units. Because it has not monitored community partners' operations as it is required to do, the Corporation was not aware of these problems and therefore was unable to correct them.
The audit also looked at how the Corporation has managed the Nunavut Housing Trust Delivery Strategy toward its goals-constructing 725 new housing units by 2010 and providing enough on-the-job training for at least 35 apprentices to become licensed in the building trades. The audit found that construction fell behind in the first year, and the goals of the strategy are jeopardized.
The Report notes that managing its regular programs has already stretched the Corporation's capacity, and the Nunavut Housing Trust Delivery Strategy represents a major addition to its workload.
"The Corporation and the Government need to take a realistic look at how the Corporation can deliver urgently needed new housing under the Nunavut Housing Trust, and also properly oversee its public housing program and the other programs it has to deliver," said Ms. Fraser.
- 30 -
For more information, please click Office of the Auditor General of Canada.
