Auditor General's opening statement

Press Conference—February 2010 Report of the Auditor General—Yukon Housing Corporation—9 February 2010

I am pleased to be in Whitehorse today to present the report on Yukon Housing Corporation that I transmitted to the Speaker of the Assembly earlier this morning.

We examined whether the Corporation is delivering its social housing, staff housing, and lending programs in accordance with its legislative mandate and its stated policies and procedures. As part of our examination, we looked at how social housing units are allocated, and whether the units allocated have the appropriate number of bedrooms for the size and makeup of the resident household. We also looked at whether the units are being adequately maintained. Finally, we examined the Corporation’s strategic planning, risk management, governance, and performance measurement.

We found that the Yukon Housing Corporation is generally managing its day-to-day operations well, but needs to pay more attention to long-term strategic issues.

The Corporation administers and maintains 532 social housing units in Whitehorse and nine other communities. There are also 147 staff housing units located in communities outside Whitehorse. The original cost of all these housing units was $46.0 million.

On the whole, social and staff housing units are well managed and maintained, and most wait lists are short, other than for social housing in Whitehorse. While we found social housing units to be allocated in accordance with the Corporation’s rating policy, staff housing units were not being allocated as prescribed in the Government’s Staff Accommodation Policy. Vacant units are being allocated on a first come, first served basis whereas the Policy requires that they be allocated on a priority basis to key personnel.

The Corporation has issued loans totalling more than $40.9 million under the Home Ownership and Home Repair Programs. The Corporation’s lending programs have a good track record on collection, and defaults on loans are uncommon. However, the risks of joint venture projects need to be better identified and managed. We found three of these projects worth a total of $2.8 million where the Corporation has not been repaid as expected and future collection is uncertain.

At a more strategic level, we found that the Corporation does not have integrated housing strategies. In other words, it needs to do a better job of determining the type and number of social and staff housing units that are needed in each community. The Corporation also does not have adequate strategic planning or performance measurement processes to help it determine how well it is meeting the housing needs of Yukon residents. It is only beginning to develop a risk management process.

The Corporation has determined that many of its social housing units have aged beyond their expected lives and will have to be replaced. Funding of $51.29 million under the federal Economic Action Plan will help to address this need, but the large number of housing construction projects to be undertaken in the next two years presents significant risks that the Corporation will need to manage and mitigate.

It is critical that the Corporation improve its long-term planning to address the needs of Yukoners for affordable, adequate housing.

We are pleased that the Corporation has agreed with our recommendations.

We would be happy now to answer any questions that you may have.