My Job

I work at the Nunavut Housing Corporation and my current job title is the Manager of Mortgages and Investments, however it is about to change to the Manager of Mortgages and Collections!

The Nunavut Housing Corporation provides housing for 60% of the families in Nunavut. There is a mortgage portfolio of approx. 20 million dollars and a rental portfolio of approx. 30 million dollars. The vast majority of our clients have subsidized payments for their homes. On the "public housing" side all rents are geared to income and every "land claim resident" over 60 years of age gets free housing. The same for the mortgage portfolio. Most of our clients have subsidized mortgage payments, based on their income. Again, once the client turns 60, if they are a land claim resident, their mortgage payment is fully subsidized. The only difference between the mortgage clients and the public housing clients is that if a family owns their own home they are required to pay all of the utility costs, whereas public housing the rent is the total cost, including heat, hydro and water. Interestingly, the cost to the corporation for one house in our rental portfolio, for the utilities is $23,000 - $25,000 per year.
In the 1990's there was a push by the Federal and Territorial Governments to encourage families to own their homes. There was a host of programs developed to encourage families to build and buy their own houses. From my perspective the idea was very good, however the implementation and follow through could have been better. The result is that many clients are behind in their payment, however in many cases not entirely because of anything that they have done wrong.
There are three districts in Nunavut. The Baffin district which is primarily made up of Baffin Island and has the greatest number of hamlets and communities. The Kivalliq district which starts at the Manitoba boarder and goes strait north to the North West Passage and the Kitikmeot district which is the western part of Nunavut. Each district has it's own housing office with officers that travel to the hamlets.
My job is to assist the Districts in administering mortgages. Also, one of my primary tasks over the next 6 months will be to write a comprehensive collection policy for the mortgage and rental portfolios. To accomplish this I will need to travel to the district offices, Cape Dorset in Baffin, Arviat in Kivallliq and Cambridge Bay in Kitikmeot and get input and feedback from the district directors, managers and front line staff on what methods are the most successful. I am travelling to Arviat in 2 weeks, which is on the west shore of Hudson Bay and to Cambridge Bay in early February which is almost directly north of Yellowknife. Along with doing file reviews, I will be hosting meetings. The goals of the meetings will be to get information that will assist in the development of principles to set the foundation for the development of the collection policy.
Other than that, I'm assisting districts in the registration process of mortgages, helping train district staff and looking at ways to make the mortgage processes more effective and efficient.
The powers that be have decided that I need an officer that will assist me in my tasks, so shortly there will be advertised a Mortgage and Collection officer in my department and together we will ensure that the corporation moves forward with new, creative and effective mortgage and collection processes.

My work station

I work with a number of wonderful people at the housing corporation. I report to John Connor, the Corporate Controller. The CFO and Executive Director of the corporation is the driving force in moving the mortgage and collection initiative forward. The President of the Corporation is a very personable gentleman, who I would characterize as a visionary and extremely capable in running all the facets of our organization.
The Mortgage and public housing administration falls under the corporate finance department which is a major part of the organization. However, the building and maintenance departments are quite large too. Further, we have a policy department which looks at all of our policy's and procedures and helps establish processes and controls to ensure that they are being adhered to.
The Nunavut Housing Corporation get's funded by the Government of Nunavut, however there has been significant Federal funding for housing programs and new construction.
Our organization is a very important part of Nunavut providing housing for the majority of its citizens. I'm very much enjoying my job and like the people I work with. Although I haven't had the opportunity to travel yet, it is part of my job description and I am looking forward to seeing the smaller communities and being part of the system that brings affordable housing to the people of Nunavut.

Our Office at the Nunavut Housing Corporation