Caroline Cochrane

The assessed rent will be market rent within each community.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The Department of Justice actually pays 70 per cent for the policing services. The RCMP will be paying rent for the units. Thank you.

I do have a flu, so I do apologize. It is actually seven years. My brain is a little bit foggy. Yes, currently it does show that adequacy is the current biggest problem within the regions. But in order to maintain our priorities within this 18th Legislative Assembly, I do think that it is appropriate to go to the communities again and ask them. Before I develop a plan, I want to be as up-to-date and current as I can with the information.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. 2009 is seven years past. It is a little bit outdated. In April, the NWT Housing Corporation is putting out a new survey to all LHOs, all community band leaders, all people in housing to be able to assess what they think is the best options and then we will be developing a plan from that information that we gather. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Currently, actually, the Housing Corporation does have some market housing. One of the reasons is that within the communities it's hard to find housing for professionals such as teachers, nurses, et cetera, RCMP as well. So yes, it will be a revenue base that we can actually use towards maintaining of our social housing.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The federal government is actually getting out of the provision of housing for RCMP officers effective April 1, so we don't have a lot of time to work on this. Their reasoning is that they don't want to do the retrofitting to the current housing that they're in. The NWT Housing Corporation is not looking at taking on their current housing, but providing services to the RCMP. Because of economy of scale, it's easier for us to provide all of the housing versus having to have them negotiate individually with market housing before April 1st. Thank you.

The RCMP will pay 100 per cent of the assessed rent within each community.

Yes. As stated, I do realize that many of the programs are old and many of them might not be appropriate at this time. I adhere to the priority of the 18th Legislative Assembly that says we need to be transparent, and within doing that, then, I believe that the best philosophy is to ask the community and to develop a plan based on what the communities and the people that use the programs say they need.

Yes. I correct myself actually. The 2009 survey is 17 years old. This government has made a priority on transparency and letting the public be as engaged as possible in decision-making. To be able to do that, asking the public what they think is best, and the program users, is what I feel is most appropriate at this time.

Actually, there's only 45 units that the RCMP are interested in negotiating. All of their units, they are not interested in retrofitting them. The Housing Corporation is not interested in taking on their old housing either. So they are going to be trying to sell them into the market community, and if not then they'll negotiate with the Housing Corporation to take them on based on land value only.