Caroline Cochrane

Due to the high needs of residents within the whole Northwest Territories and our current wait list to access public housing support, we will not be, probably, at this point extending our income threshold. So it would be for people who are at moderate to low income. I don't know the exact rate for Yellowknife, but I believe it's under $100,000 a year.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I would love to be able to stand here and say that we have all of the answers figured out. The honest truth is that we don't. However, I do know that the data shows that one in six households in Yellowknife are in core need due to affordability. That tells me that we have a serious problem with people being able to afford the rental accommodations in the Yellowknife area and, therefore, a rent subsidy program makes sense. It actually makes more sense than building more public housing when you do it on a costanalysis basis. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

The last review to the Consumer Protection Act was last updated in 2011. However, it was only looked at in relation to the costofcredit disclosure, so that was the last time that the act was actually reviewed.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Actions that we are currently taking to address the needs of consumers within the Northwest Territories, basically I want to state that we don't get a lot of complaints. First of all, we have only gotten 18 complaints in the last three years. Changes to the act are usually made based on the number of complaints that we receive. We are wondering if that is maybe a communication problem.

In this fiscal year, we have developed a plain-language guide on the current consumer affairs programming and what we do. Within that guide we have where we explain the government's role...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. It is really hard to determine how long somebody will remain homeless. At the same time, while we are looking at the policy and the program review, we are trying to address homelessness through a variety of ways. We have put money into the Housing First project in Yellowknife. We are building semi-independent rooms within the current shelters. We are building units within the communities. We are working on homelessness at the same time there is the policy review.

The deciding of the wait list is a little bit more complicated than deciding if you have children or not. There are a lot of factors that go into that, such as what is your current living situation, are you in harm's way at this point. Number of children do count in that, but there are a lot of other factors besides just whether you have children or not.

As I stated earlier, we have a huge number of people in need within the Northwest Territories as a whole. We have over 600 families with children that do fall within our current income assessment. At this point, I am not willing to expand the income thresholds as they currently are. If we ever get to the place where we can address all of the low-income people within the Northwest Territories, then I would look at expanding that, but at this current point we cannot.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. The MLA said that he would hold off until later on, and so thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. That is federal money, and that was the shelter enhancement fund for the victims of family violence federal funding. It decreased from $316,000 to $156,000, so that meant a decrease of $160,000. Again, with the family violence, even though the federal government has decreased, we are still providing support.

One of the communities in Tuktoyaktuk didn't have a suitable unit. Their victims of family violence unit was at such a point that it was nonrepairable, so even though the federal government money did not cover it, we have given them accommodations through the Northwest...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Yes, I can commit to working with my colleagues to actually look at how we can address red tape within housing standards, but I also should make the Speaker aware that some of the red tape will be on behalf of municipalities because the municipalities will have to make sure that their bylaws accommodate for tiny houses as well, and that I have no say over.