YHC Priority Housing Assessment Policies as of January 2007

The YHC Board of Directors approved a number of amendments to Yukon’s social housing eligibility and housing priority policies. These amendments include:

Amended Priority-Assessment Point Rating System
YHC shall assess applicant housing-priorities according to an amended point-rating system.
All eligible, approved applications shall be reviewed and point-scored according to YHC’s established methodology.

The revised point-rating system shall recognize the following targeted housing priorities, in descending order:
• Victims of Violence/Abuse
• Rural Relocation Households (seniors)
• Homeless or Evicted Households
• Mobility-Challenged Households
• All Other Households

The priority-assessment system shall not guarantee that every applicant in one target priority group will be housed ahead of every other applicant in another target priority group.  However, the point-rating methodology shall assure that in the significant majority of cases, applicants will be housed according to their targeted housing priority.

Victims of Violence/Abuse
A Victim of Violence/Abuse applicant:
Must meet YHC’s standard Canadian-citizenship or equivalent requirements; and must submit independent confirmation that the member/household has been subject to violence/abuse from another individual.

Eligibility to this program is based on the tenet that the applicant desires a life free from the abuser. 

Seniors’ Rural Household Relocations for Medical Reasons
Households eligible for consideration under this policy include those with seniors who have severe, chronic or acute medical/health problems requiring prolonged or recurring treatment, care and/or support that is not available in their present residential location or community.

The senior applicant must provide verification completed by a health care professional.

Social Housing Eligibility, Residency Criteria
YHC shall apply a one-year Yukon residency requirement as primary eligibility criteria for social housing consideration. 

The residency criteria shall not apply to Victims of Violence/Abuse; or where there are suitable, vacant units available for occupancy and there are no other approved applicants on a community wait list for those units.

Age of Eligibility
Subject to standard eligibility criteria being met, YHC shall consider applications for housing from: a person who is 19 years of age or over, and a person under the age of 19 years, where the housing request is supported by the Department of Health and Social Services. For the purposes of this policy, seniors are qualified as being 65 years or older.

Income Threshold
Except as noted below, Housing Income Limits shall apply as primary eligibility criteria for all persons/households seeking Yukon social housing consideration.
 
Income limits shall not apply for the purposes of assessing applicant eligibility of Victims of Violence, seniors in need of relocation due to critical medical reasons, and persons meeting the YHC Mobility-Challenge policy/criteria.

On a one-year pilot-project basis, YHC shall accept applications from family households and seniors, whose total household income, as defined by YHC, does not exceed by more than 10 percent (10%) the applicable Housing Income Limit for the community for which application is being made.

Eligibility with Former Tenant Arrears
YHC shall permit the approval of applications from former tenants in arrears for either rent or unit damages providing the applicant meets all other standard eligibility requirements and will have to repay the arrears prior to being allocated a housing unit. Exceptions will be made for victims of violence/abuse and critical medical relocation applicants.

In the case of former joint-tenancy situations, and in consultation with the Director of Housing Operations or senior YHC executive staff, a local Housing Board may proportionately allocate the outstanding arrears between each of the former tenants in consideration of the circumstances giving rise to the arrears.

Rental Rates
The rental rate for Yukon Housing’s Social Housing program for all clients remains at 25% of the gross household income.

Contact Us:

410H Jarvis Street
Whitehorse, Yukon
 
Phone: (867) 667-5759
Fax: (867) 667-3664
Toll free (In Yukon):
1-800-661-0408, ext. 5759
Email: ykhouse@gov.yk.ca