Caroline Cochrane

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. As stated before, I am more than willing to visit the Sahtu region for a constituency tour to address all issues that community members in that region may have including the housing survey, and I am committing to try to be as inclusive as possible in the development of the policies and the new programs going forward. However, I cannot state yet what that would look like because we are still developing the plan on how to roll that out.

Again, as I stated in the previous question, I have already made commitments to the Aboriginal municipal governments to get them out in a timely basis. It was tabled the other day, and so we are working on getting it out immediately. However, I have not done the Sahtu tour yet, and there was a commitment made by our Premier to get Ministers out into all the communities. So I would be more than willing to do a tour of the Sahtu to be able to take any input that the communities may have in any of the portfolios that I carry, including the Voices on Housing document.

Thank you. I wish to table the following document entitled "Follow-up on Tabled Document 355-18(2): Follow-Up Letter for Oral Question 385-18(2): Changes to Cities, Towns and Villages Act." Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Now that the survey is completed, we are in the process of actually developing an action plan not for the dissimilation of the material, but also to make sure that we meet all the needs and that we address the policies and programs in a timely manner, defining which ones can be solved early, which ones will take more consultation and time to deliver. So we are developing an action plan on how to do that now? We are going to try to be as inclusive of communities as possible in the determination of the final policies, so once we roll out with the policies we will be looking for feedback. At this...

The Northwest Territories Housing Corporation acts very closely with the Department of Health and Social Services in regards to aging in place for our seniors and our elders within the territories. Not only do we consult on them with how to support seniors within their own homes, but we are also working closely together in the design of elders' complexes. From a housing standpoint, I realize that elders and seniors need to have socialization to do well. From the Health and Social Services standpoint, they recognize that providing services, onsite talks about accessibility is the best service...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. We have many programs, so it is going to be difficult to make it brief, but I am going to try to speak fast and get through this. First of all, tenants need to know that there is an income threshold, so, if they fall under the income threshold, which is close to $100,000 depending on how many bedrooms you have, then you would qualify for support.

We also need to ascertain the condition of the home. I do hate to say it, but some of the trailers in Northlands Trailer Park are very, very old. We need to make sure that they are economically viable. Once they do qualify...

The first thing that tenants should do if they identify mould within their units is let the local housing organization know that. The initial thing is to identify whether it's mould or not. Mould has become a pretty scary topic and so people are afraid to even touch it, so things like condensation from windows and stuff which is not at the stage of mould have sometimes been misinterpreted for mould.

The first thing is to let the local housing organization know that you have an issue. We will go in and do a thorough inspection of it. We have specialists within the housing organization that...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Yes, once I finish with my meeting with Minister Duclos, I would be happy to share the results of that meeting with the Members through the appropriate committee.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. With the federal support for housing, there are tons of things that we can accomplish, but I would rather focus on the need, in my opinion, to build further the relationship with the federal government and the new Ministers within that federal government to make them understand the needs of the Northwest Territories. To understand the costs, when you talk about affordability, the costs of a house to be built in the southern province is almost half compared to what it is in Yellowknife. Going into Tuktoyaktuk or higher regions, it is even more unaffordable. I think that...

Yes, actually, I can. There are a few programs that actually pertain to the residents in Northlands Trailer Park and all residents, too. We will be having the new seniors' Aging in Place repair program that the Members helped advocate to get additional funding in for. We are going to be looking at a new rent supplement program for people who can't afford their current costs. We are going to be looking at a fuel tank replacement plan, which might be pertinent to people in Northlands Trailer Park, because we need to get rid of the old fuel tanks as they are an environmental concern. We are...