CALGARY, AB: The Canadian Taxpayers Federation (CTF) released the results of its investigation into subsidized housing in Calgary today. The CTF discovered 1,208 tenants making between $50,000 and $172,000 living in housing subsidized by the Calgary Housing Company (CHC).
Using documents obtained through Freedom of Information (FOI), the CTF discovered 18 tenants making between $120,000 and $172,000, 47 tenants making between $100,000 and $172,000, 123 tenants making between $80,000 and $172,000, and 1,208 tenants making between $50,000 and $172,000.
A detailed breakdown of housing and income categories can be found HERE.
“People with enough money to support themselves shouldn’t be the beneficiaries of taxpayer subsidized housing,” said CTF Alberta Director Derek Fildebrandt. “Taxpayers pay good money to help house the poor and this money is clearly going to people who don’t need or deserve it.”
The CHC gave the CTF a number of reasons for the medium-to-high income earners living in its units. The most common was that the Landlord and Tenancy Act prevents them from kicking them out.
“Making $50,000 dollars doesn’t make you rich, but it makes you capable of standing on your own two feet. If the CHC isn’t just passing the buck then it’s time for the provincial government to do the right thing, change the necessary legislation, and kick these people out,” continued Fildebrandt.
The CTF has filed FOI requests to obtain the income amounts of tenants living in units provided by the Calgary Housing Company (CHC), as well as social housing corporations in Edmonton, Red Deer, Lethbridge and Medicine Hat. To date the Capital Housing Corporation of Edmonton has blocked the CTF’s FOI requests by demanding search fees far exceeding those of all other social housing bodies combined.
The CTF filed the FOIs following its investigation into the Heart River Housing Corporation, where it found that one tenant was earning $112,000 a year, and others between $50,000 and $82,000.
The CTF will release the results of its investigation into other subsidized housing corporations as the data is received.
For a detailed backgrounder, click HERE.
For the data provided in the FOI request, click HERE.
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