YWCA seeks Supreme Court decision on transitional tenant rights after man evicted for alleged parties, damage

The outcome of an appeal of a rental officer decision in the N.W.T. could have a big impact on the operation of the YWCA NWT's transitional housing program in Yellowknife.

The YWCA says the law that governs landlord-tenant relations does not apply to housing it provides to people in need. The association has gone to court in an effort to overturn a decision by a rental officer that said the Northwest Territories Residential Tenancies Act does apply to the transitional housing program.

The case involves a man living in one of the basement suites of Northview Apartment REIT's Simpson House apartment building on 51 Street. The YWCA leased the suite from Northview and then rented it to a man, who, with his two daughters, is a participant in the transitional housing program.

The single father, whose $1,800 monthly rent was being paid by income assistance, also signed a Supportive Housing Agreement in which he said he acknowledged that participants in the program will be asked to leave if they or their guests cause the property owner to evict the YWCA from the leased unit.

According to court documents, the rental agreement ran from Oct. 2, 2018 to March 31, 2019. It continued on a month-to-month basis afterward.

According to the YWCA, there had been many loud parties, damage to the unit and regular late night knocks on the window to the unit.

Threat to burn down building

The problems came to a head in early September, when the man and his ex-spouse got into a loud argument in which she threatened to burn down the building. The threat was heard by people in the neighbouring apartments, who reported it to Northview.

It came just days after a fire at another Northview building, the Crestview Apartments. A year before, Rockhill Apartments, a YWCA-owned building that included transitional housing, was completely destroyed by fire.

On Sept. 10, Northview gave the YWCA an eviction notice ending its lease effective immediately and requiring it to have the man and his daughters vacate the unit. The YWCA told the man they would have to leave. He filed a complaint with the rental board, alleging he was being improperly evicted.

On Sept. 12, Northview changed the locks. The man was allowed daytime access to the unit, typically granted so that evicted tenants may remove their belongings, but started staying there overnight, eventually bringing his children back.

On Oct. 2, RCMP officers forcibly entered the unit and removed the man and his daughters.

In her decision, N.W.T. rental officer Adelle Guigon noted: "Under what authority the RCMP conducted this eviction was not established at the hearing — no evidence was presented of either an eviction order or a writ of possession issued by the Supreme Court." 

The YWCA arrived at the rental board hearing of the eviction complaint armed with a legal opinion supporting its argument that the the Residential Tenancies Act does not apply to transitional housing.

Guigon disagreed, finding the exemption YWCA was arguing applied to its housing, only applied to housing someone that required to stay in order to engage in programming, such as addictions treatment. She said the primary purpose of the YWCA's program was to simply provide housing.

As a result, under the act, the YWCA had to provide 10 days notice of the eviction and apply to the rental board for an eviction order. Guigon found the man had been improperly evicted and awarded him $420 — a refund of rent for the week in September he was not allowed in the apartment.

Now, the YWCA is asking the Supreme Court to find that the rental officer was wrong to find its transitional housing is not exempt from landlord-tenant law. No hearing date has been set.