The number of Manitoba Housing tenants making $100,000 or more per year has nearly tripled since the Selinger government first promised to look into the issue three years ago.

Fourteen social housing tenants had salaries topping $100,000 in 2015, including two who cleared more than $200,000, according to documents obtained by the Manning Centre, a Calgary-based thinktank, via a freedom of information request. That’s up from five only three years earlier, when the issue was first broached in Manitoba, and nine in 2014.

The revelation made for fodder on the campaign trail, with both the Tories and the Liberals seizing on the issue to attack the Selinger government.

“It is totally unacceptable that a family struggling to get by is left waiting while more than a dozen people making six figures are allowed to remain in Manitoba Housing units,” said Ron Schuler, the Progressive Conservatives’ candidate in St. Paul, in a press release.

“We’re disappointed to hear that,” said Liberal leader Rana Bokhari, in a written statement. “Manitobans are better than that. It’s the kind of deception that is taking away opportunities from those who need it most.”

In September 2013, then-Manitoba Housing CEO Darrell Jones said housing options in northern communities could skew the numbers to make it seem like high-income tenants are taking homes away from lower earners. Less than a year later, the NDP government tigtened up the rental housing policy to ensure it is only offered in communities where there is a need.

But the government also said it can’t move high-income residents from Manitoba Housing, citing rules in the Residential Tenancies Act.

If that’s the case, then the rules should be changed, said Manning Centre spokesman Colin Craig, who first brought the issue to light three years ago.

Craig saidMonday that the real issue is that high-income earners are receiving subsidized housing in places like Winnipeg and Brandon, while low-income earners are placed on a waiting list.

“For some reason, the NDP doesn’t seem to think this is a problem,” Craig said.

The Department of Housing is in the process of adjustent rents to reflect an individual or family’s ability to pay while avoiding sudden changes to their housing costs, an NDP spokesman said, adding the party’s affordable housing programs are flexible for low-income families.

— With files from Joyanne Pursaga

THE $100,000-PLUS CLUB

The top salaries of people living in Manitoba Housing units, by the numbers”

14

Number of social housing tenants making $100,000 or more in 2015

2

Number of social housing tenants making $200,000 or more in 2015

$244,544

The top salary of a social housing tenant in 2015

— Source: Manning Centre, via freedom of information requests