The Canadian Taxpayers Federation (CTF) released Freedom of Information documents today showing some big income earners living in provincial government social housing units.
The CTF is encouraging the provincial government to investigate, noting that removing some high income earners from social housing could let more low income people in; reducing the pressure to build more social housing units.
“Perhaps instead of building new social housing units, government could save some money by forcing some high income earners to move out and let the people who really need it move in,” said CTF Prairie Director Colin Craig. “Alternatively, if there are locations where there’s not enough demand, the province could sell off locations filled with high income earners.”
The CTF took monthly earnings figures provided by the Department of Housing and Community Development and calculated yearly incomes. The top five income earners were; $153,648, $137,340, $98,844, $93,288 and $90,912.
A summary of income earners over $50,000 per year is as follows:
Not-So Poor Incomes?
|
Income Range |
Number of Tenants |
|
$130,000-$159,999 |
2 |
|
$100,000-$129,999 |
0 |
|
$90,000-$99,999 |
3 |
|
$80,000-$89,999 |
3 |
|
$70,000-$79,999 |
23 |
|
$60,000-$69,999 |
52 |
|
$50,000-$59,999 |
65 |
“We asked for data on the number of family members corresponding to each tenant, but were told we would have to pay a small fortune to get it,” added Craig. “While we can’t afford to pay for that analysis, it would probably be worth the government’s while to investigate.”
To view the government’s response, click here for their letter and here for the December 2012 data.
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