Bob Bromley

I didn’t hear an answer when this will be in place. I hope it will be in place April 1st.

Seventy-five new public housing spaces NWT-wide, 50 new places in Yellowknife is a good start, but it’s not nearly enough to make a dent in the pent-up demand. Affordable housing is one of the most pressing social issues that this government faces in market communities.

What are this government’s plans to expand this program to further address the crushing need for affordable housing for income support clients? Mahsi.

I will have questions on the evaluation program that will be put in place to determine savings and effectiveness and how this transfer can be expanded. Mahsi.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I seek unanimous consent to return to item 5, recognition of visitors in the gallery. Mahsi.

---Unanimous consent granted

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I do have a few things I want to mention here with Transportation. The first is an observation that there was a 60 percent increase or variance from the budget we passed about this time last year for Transportation and the budget we look like we are ending up with. So, obviously a lot of changes to the budget during the year with the appropriations and so on.

Most of that was Vote 4 dollars, but $9 million of the $60 million increase, a $56 million increase was Vote 1 dollars. This was at a time when we’ve had a 50 percent reduction in net fiscal benefits. We had over $100...

Thanks to the Minister. I hope he is going to work with committee on this. One thousand fifty-five Yellowknife families have housing affordability issues, up 45 percent. Yet $900,000 in rent supplement budgeted to help people exactly like this remained unspent last year.

So, what is the Minister doing to ensure that the money budgeted for housing assistance this year, through the Rent Supplement Program, for example, makes it to the people who need it in the market communities like Yellowknife? Mahsi.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I would like to follow up on my Member’s statement with questions for the Minister of the Housing Corporation. I certainly did express support for the transfer from ECE to the Housing Corporation for some of our income assistance clients. Hopefully, we will soon see a reduction in the barriers to affordable shelter for some of our most vulnerable people.

When will we see the protocols in place for the new Housing Corporation takeover of the ECE clients and when will people be able to access these new supports? Mahsi.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The plan to transfer 1.6 million housing support dollars from the ECE’s Income Assistance program to the NWT Housing Corporation is a welcome action indeed. This action will begin to address the debilitating circumstances for long-term income assistance clients who must continually wrestle with Northern Properties’ policy barriers and ECE barriers that clients must try to jump over every month to get even delayed let alone timely housing assistance.

These barriers include a record of failed property maintenance, threats or attempts to evict, difficulties associated with...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I’ve been meaning to recognize the Pages in the House today and I’d like to mention a number from Weledeh. Grace Clark, Niva Stephenson, Harvey Fells and Hunaifa Malik and any other Pages who have been looking after us for the week, it’s greatly appreciated. Mahsi.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Thanks for those responses. It’s good to hear about the Detah road.

Might I suggest a flashing yellow light would not be very expensive for the highway between Niven Lake and the four-way stop?

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Thanks to the Minister. With the crushing need out there, the Minister needs to do something beyond just the normal communications efforts, I would say, to get this happening.

As I mentioned, 60 percent of the housing affordability issues are in Yellowknife for the whole territory and the problem is worsening considerably.

What other action does the Minister intend to take to lessen the burden of finding affordable housing in Yellowknife and the NWT? What evaluations are planned to ensure another five years of failure are prevented? Mahsi.