An anti-poverty advocate is calling on the Yukon government to find the political will to institute housing standards to ensure adequate living conditions for citizens to protect their basic human rights.

In an interview Monday, Ross Findlater of the Yukon Anti-Poverty Coalition said he's concerned at the lack of health, safety, maintenance and occupancy standards for housing in the territory.

Findlater said his group has heard concerns from people living in rental accommodations with problems such as broken windows and mould. They say they feel powerless to do anything about their situation as there is little recourse they can take short of costly legal action.

'I think the lack of standards really appears to create a problem between the two parties (landlords and tenants),' Findlater told the Star.

'It seems to me that it should be a priority to consider creating legislation that sets out standards.

'We're hearing that tenants are feeling very restrained in their ability to speak out. We have heard that people fear they will be evicted if they complain,' Findlater said.

'Food, clothing and shelter are basic human needs and basic human rights.'

According to Yukon law, either a landlord or a tenant who has entered into a month-to-month tenancy agreement can end that pact without providing a reason.

According to the Yukon Landlord and Tenant Act, making application to the courts cannot be used as a reason to evict someone from a rental property.

According to section 97 of the act, a judge can prevent a landlord from taking possession of his/her property from a tenant if the judge believes the notice to end the tenancy agreement was given because of a tenant's complaint to a government authority or an attempt to enforce his or her legal rights.

Last week, tenants of Whitehorse landlord Hans Affolter, who has 40 rental units in the territory, said they were upset at the conditions of their rental units. As reported in last Friday's Star, the problems including mould, broken floors and windows, plumbing deficiencies and difficulties with their wood stoves.

Affolter tenant Marie-Sue LaBelle said she was upset at her situation because she had repeatedly asked Affolter to repair her $750-a-month trailer, with little success.

Affolter maintains he knows several of his units have problems including mould but that he has trouble addressing the issue because of problems collecting rent from delinquent tenants.

Affolter maintains that 60 per cent of his tenants are on social assistance, 50 per cent of people renting from him haven't paid the full amount of their rent and that 75 per cent of his properties have experienced varying levels of damage from tenants who never paid for repairs.

He said he'd like to see the government raise the level of social assistance in the territory because he feels it does not provide enough money to the Yukon's poor to pay for their basic needs.

Findlater also said he'd like to see social assistance levels raised because it forces people to use food money to pay for accommodations.

According to Marcelle Dube, a Department Health and Social Services spokesperson, social assistance rates to Yukoners vary, depending on the number of occupants in a household.

Current maximum social assistance rates include:

• a basic maintenance payment of $159, a shelter payment of $390 and a fuel and utilities payment of $400 for one person;

• payments of $318 (basic), $525 (shelter) and $425 (fuel and utilities) for a two-person household;

• payments of $477, $625 and $450 for three people;

• payments of $636, $640 and $475 for four people;

• payments of $795, $640 and $475 for five people;

• payments of $954, $640 and $525 for six people;

• payments of $1,113, $640 and $550 for seven people; and

• payments of $1,272, $640 and $575 for eight people.

There are additional payments available, according to the department, for clothing, school supplies and Christmas.

The rates, she added, have not been adjusted in approximately 10 years.

The median monthly rent is $675 in Whitehorse. That means half the rents in the city are higher and half are lower, according to the Yukon Bureau of Statistics

Both LaBelle and Affolter say they believe there are no rights afforded to respective parties in Yukon law and both parties would like to see the legislation amended.

Responding to questions from the Star last week, both territorial and city officials said there is very little they can do about housing conditions relating to rental units because there is no legal framework which would give them the mandate to act.

Fiona Charbonneau, manager of the Department of Community Services' consumer affairs branch, said while her office can offer mediation and arbitration between landlords and tenants if both parties consent, there were no health, safety, maintenance or occupancy standards or enforcement mechanism available in the Yukon Landlord and Tenant Act.

'I don't have any knowledge that there have been any (standards) established in any other areas and certainly the Landlord and Tenant Act doesn't have any,' said Charbonneau.

'There are no enforcement provisions in terms of forcing a landlord to comply with health, safety and maintenance standards or laws that might be out there established by law.'

She said the option most pursued by either a landlord seeking to recover damages or a tenant seeking repairs has been to go to court.

Lynn Richards, manager of the territorial environmental health services branch, said there is very little her organization can do about rental accommodations that have problems such as mould, broken windows, holes in the floor or broken appliances.

'Under the public health regulations, which outline regulations for dwellings, it is clear that it is for unsanitary conditions and doesn't address broken glass, holes in the floor (or) safety issues,' Richards said.

'Public health inspectors were once sanitary inspectors. So, we're looking at sewage, garbage, refuse things that would create a communicable disease.'

The legislation covering public health, Richards added, was enacted in 1958.

Whitehorse city manager Dennis Shewfelt said there is little, if anything, city building inspectors can do.

City fire chief Clive Sparks said his department can do little about substandard housing other than address fire concerns.

Findlater said addressing the legislation gap should be a priority on the political level and that all levels of government, the non-government sector and Yukon citizens should work collaboratively to solve the problem.

A spokesperson for the Yukon Human Rights Commission could not be reached for comment.