Single; thus, homeless forever? Inaccessibility and precarity of housing for single Indigenous women living in the Northwest territories: a policy review of the local housing organizations (LHOs) Tenant Relations Manual - 204 - Point rating of applications

In the Northwest Territories (NWT), a point-rate system is administered by the Northwest Territories Housing Corporation (NWTHC) to ensure that households in greatest need for public housing are given priority access. This priority is often given to families with children, persons with disabilities, or seniors. This often leaves non-prioritized populations like single individuals without children limited access to public housing units, and in a state of housing precarity. In the NWT, housing precarity is experienced inter-sectionally; as race, gender, and household composition play a large role in public housing eligibility. Among these at-risk populations, single Indigenous women (SIW) face disproportionate barriers to accessing public housing. This paper argues that barriers to housing access are in part due to colonial, patriarchal, and paternal ideologies that have historically become embedded within housing policy and contributed to the disenfranchisement of SIW in public housing. Through a policy review of the LHO Tenant Relations Manual – Point Rating of Applications, this paper will call for gender-specific and cultural-specific policies and programs in order to effectively acknowledge the lived experiences of SIW accessing public housing policy in the NWT.

Key words: Housing Policy; Public Housing; Housing Precarity; Northwest Territories; Indigenous