Read all 4 of CBC North's stories on Northview, N.W.T.'s major private-sector landlord - Action News
Home WebMail Wednesday, November 13, 2024, 02:24 AM | Calgary | -2.2°C | Regions Advertise Login | Our platform is in maintenance mode. Some URLs may not be available. |
North

Read all 4 of CBC North's stories on Northview, N.W.T.'s major private-sector landlord

Last month CBC North published a series of stories looking into Northview Canadian High Yield Investment Fund's large presence in the Northwest Territories, and what it's meant for tenants and the territorial government.

CBC North ran 4 stories digging into the N.W.T.'s major private-sector landlord

Trash outside Northview's Lakeside Townhomes in Yellowknife. Last month CBC North published a series of stories looking into Northview Canadian High Yield Investment Fund's large presence in the Northwest Territories, and what it's meant for tenants and the territorial government. (John Last/CBC)

Last month CBC North ran a four-part series examining the real estate company Northview Canadian High Yield Residential Fund, and its outsized presence in the Northwest Territories.

Northview is a major residential landlord in the North, owning by one estimate roughly 80 per cent of private, multi-unit rental housing in Yellowknife and Iqaluit.

Last November, the company that was started in 1986 by a former N.W.T. deputy minister and a teacher was bought by two Canadian real estate giants: Starlight Investments and KingSett Capital.

The $4.9-billion deal was billed as the largest acquisition in the apartment sector in Canadian history.

But for years, Northview tenants have taken to Facebook to warn Yellowknife renters about the company they say provides second-rate housing in a city with limited affordable and pet-friendly options.

In Part One of our series, we tracedNorthview's history, and looked at how it grew from a small northern company to a national real estate investment fund.

In Part Two, we spokewith tenants in Yellowknife about what it's like renting from Northview, and heard the challenges they face in getting maintenance issues addressed.

Part Three turns to the territorial government, laying out how much it spends on Northview leases, and how political inaction enabled the company's expansion in the N.W.T.

The final instalment, Part Four, drills into why it's so hard to build new rental housing and office space in the North, and what could be done to create more options.

Listen to reporters John Last and Sidney Cohen talk about their reporting on CBC podcast Front Burner here.