Sign the petition: Kick the wealthy out of subsidized housing

The Canadian Taxpayers Federation has unearthed yet more tenants living in social housing who don’t exactly need help from taxpayers. We used Freedom of Information (FOI) requests to obtain documents from the Lethbridge Housing Authority that show 13 tenants in that city earning between $50,000 and $77,000 a year.

Now, a $50,000 to $77,000 a year income doesn’t make you rich, but you are well into the middle class at that income level. Alberta taxpayers pay good money to provide the less fortunate with housing, but there is an expectation from most people that if you can stand on your own two feet, that you do.

Incomes of Lethbridge Housing Authority Tenants making more than $50,000

This isn’t as bad as say, Calgary , where the CTF released (FOI) documents showing tenants in subsidized housing with some incomes large enough to qualify them as nearly rich. In Calgary, we found 18 tenants making between $120,000 and $172,000, 123 tenants making more than $80,000, and 1,208 tenants making more than $50,000.

This isn’t to excuse the Lethbridge Housing Authority.

The Canadian Taxpayers Federation began its investigation of middle and high incomes earners living in Alberta social housing last year, when we filed FOI requests with Heart River Housing, after receiving tips about abuse. There we found several tenants making between $50,00 and $82,000, and one tenants making $112,000, who had lived in social housing for 12 years.

Heart River Housing shifted blame to the province, saying that there was nothing that they could do under the Alberta Residential Tenancies Act (ARTA). Mayor Nenshi in Calgary did the same thing when we released the documents for Calgary.  

Even if the ARTA does forbid municipal governments from evicting freeloaders from subsidized housing, it’s not clear if anything could stop them from hiking the rent on them, let’s say by, 200 or 300%. 

It’s not yet clear, if it’s the province, local governments, or some combination thereof that is responsible for this mess, but so far, nobody has answered for it.

*It should be noted that the CTF has filed FOI requests with Edmonton’s Capital Housing Corporation for the same information obtained from Calgary, Heart River and Lethbridge, but has thus far not cooperated with the Canadian Taxpayers Federation.  

Sign the petition: Kick the wealthy out of subsidized housing