Tintina Housing Society: a receiver as landlord for 27 years

The order that made Deloitte a landlord in Watson Lake, Yukon, runs four faxed pages and a two-page schedule of lots. Justice Hudson of the Supreme Court of the Yukon Territory made it at Whitehorse on Tuesday, September 1, 1998, after hearing counsel for Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation, with "no one appearing on behalf of the Defendant, although duly served." It appointed Deloitte & Touche Inc. receiver and manager of the 19 lots in its schedule, "with power to act at once and until the trial of this action or until further Order of this Court," per the Receivership Order, Sept. 1, 1998, p. 1. Among the purposes for which it could employ assistants were "taking measures to bring the Defendant into compliance with its Urban Native Non-profit Housing Program Agreements with the Plaintiff, and generally acting as landlord of the subject lands and premises," per the Receivership Order, Sept. 1, 1998, p. 2.

The further order came on December 5, 2025. Deloitte, by then Deloitte Restructuring Inc., set out what it had done "since the Date of Receivership over 27 years ago" in a report it called its first to the court, dated November 14, 2025, per the First Report of the Receiver, Nov. 14, 2025, paras. 1, 4, 18. Its final statement of receipts and disbursements, from September 1, 1998 to July 15, 2026, balances at $9,028,822 each way, per the Receiver's Final Report, July 20, 2026, App. A.

Nineteen houses on 100% financing

Tintina Housing Society was incorporated in the Yukon on September 14, 1984. Deloitte understands that it was formed to provide off-reserve housing to Indigenous people through 19 single family homes in Watson Lake, which were all the property the receiver was appointed over, per the First Report of the Receiver, Nov. 14, 2025, paras. 9–10. Between about May 21, 1985 and January 1989, CMHC entered into four Urban Native Non-Profit Housing Program Agreements with the society. The subsidies CMHC paid under them, and the mortgage insurance CMHC gave the original lenders, let the society obtain 100% financing, secured by mortgages, to acquire the houses. Under the agreements the society had, among other things, to submit yearly budgets from which subsidies were set and audited statements from which CMHC would determine whether it had overpaid, per CMHC's Notice of Application, Nov. 28, 2025, paras. 2–4.

What CMHC swore in 1998

CMHC began its action on June 23, 1998, per its Notice of Application, Nov. 28, 2025, para. 7. Its case for a receiver is an affidavit filed on July 23, 1998 by Lorraine Verokosky, CMHC's manager of assisted housing for its Yukon and B.C. region. She swore that the society had been on notice since at least October 30, 1992 that CMHC would suspend its subsidies unless the society remedied its defaults, and that on September 15, 1997 the society was told CMHC had elected to suspend any further payments, per the Affidavit #1 of L. Verokosky, filed July 23, 1998, paras. 1, 4–5.

The society, she swore, "continued each year to make substantial ineligible expenditures," increasing the surplus subsidy it owed back to CMHC; a CMHC summary put the unrepaid surplus at $201,456.00 as of March 31, 1997, and she said the summary understated the surplus contributions paid. She called the budgets used to measure the society "reasonable (if not generous)," given the 16 separate groups CMHC administered that provided assisted housing programs to "urban natives," and swore that "none of the other groups have administration costs per dwelling unit that are close to being as great as those for which the Defendant budgeted (but still exceeded) every year," per the Affidavit #1 of L. Verokosky, filed July 23, 1998, paras. 7, 11–12, 15.

CMHC, she swore, had paid the society about $7,100 a year from 1991 to 1997 to build up a replacement reserve fund. The society's audited statements for the year ended March 31, 1997 showed a reserve of $19,830, but "in fact that account exists only as a bookkeeping entry, and no part of the fund contributions made by the Plaintiff have been retained by the Defendant," she said, citing a note to those statements. She also swore that the society had "chronically failed to ensure that the rents paid by its tenants are in conformity with the prescribed Rent Geared to Income Schedule," and that CMHC had "lost any remaining confidence in the ability or willingness of the management of the Defendant to properly manage its affairs," per the Affidavit #1 of L. Verokosky, filed July 23, 1998, paras. 17–18, 20, 24.

The remedy CMHC sought was framed around the people living in the houses. "The Plaintiff's predominant concern remains for the Defendant's tenants," the affidavit says; CMHC was "prepared to reinstate subsidies to the subject projects if management of the projects is in the hands of competent management," and wanted a receiver and manager appointed "before the continuance of the tenant's occupation of the premises becomes impossible," per the Affidavit #1 of L. Verokosky, filed July 23, 1998, paras. 25–26. No response from the society is in the record read for this piece; the September 1 order records that no one appeared for it.

Landlord by court order

CMHC summed up what followed in one paragraph of its 2025 application: the receiver "has been successful in instituting proper accounting procedures and controls, and generally in managing the Tintina Houses, so that CMHC was able to reinstate the Housing Agreements, resume subsidy payments, and preserve assisted housing," per its Notice of Application, Nov. 28, 2025, para. 9.

Deloitte's list of its own work runs to thirteen items. It collected rent, kept local property managers, entered into new leases and evicted tenants for breaches of their tenancy agreements; contractors it engaged handled emergency repairs, snow and tree removal and long-term renovations, five of which were completed in the last five years; and each year it prepared operating and capital budgets for CMHC, to which it reported quarterly, and arranged insurance for the houses. "On multiple occasions over the intervening years," in consultation with CMHC, it engaged with parties interested in acquiring the houses "through another society or program," per the First Report of the Receiver, Nov. 14, 2025, para. 18.

The society did not outlast the receivership. The Yukon Registrar of Societies dissolved it on May 18, 2021, and Deloitte is not aware of any remaining directors, officers or members, per the First Report of the Receiver, Nov. 14, 2025, para. 13; CMHC describes the dissolution as involuntary, per its Notice of Application, Nov. 28, 2025, para. 1. As of November 2025, with property taxes current, 15 of the 19 houses were rented; of the other four, two were uninhabitable, a tenant had recently moved out of one, and one had been renovated and not yet re-rented, per the First Report of the Receiver, Nov. 14, 2025, paras. 20, 27. CMHC's affiant said the receiver had advised that fourteen of the houses "are in poor condition or require renovation work," per the Affidavit #1 of A. Belhachemi, Nov. 28, 2025, para. 12.

A sale process, ended after CMHC asked for a suspension

In early 2025, CMHC says, Deloitte told it that its preference was for another organization to take over management of the houses by the end of the year, per CMHC's Notice of Application, Nov. 28, 2025, para. 12. In Deloitte's account, a review of its role, the condition of the houses and the availability of contractors led it to conclude "that changes were required for the well-being of the tenants," and in March 2025 it met CMHC to consider solutions, including another society or party taking over ownership and management by the end of 2025, per Deloitte's Notice of Application, Nov. 17, 2025, paras. 22–23. "Despite these efforts, after several months no viable proposals had materialized," the receiver reported, per the First Report of the Receiver, Nov. 14, 2025, para. 34. In July it told CMHC that, "given the lack of interest in another society or agency purchasing or taking over care and management of the Properties," it intended to run a sale process, per Deloitte's Notice of Application, Nov. 17, 2025, para. 24.