Yellowknife Centre

Statements in Debates

Debates of , 18th Assembly, 2nd Session (day 58)

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, could the Minister clarify that, if an LHO had enough money to buy a unit or more than one unit, that they would be able to do that? Thank you.

Debates of , 18th Assembly, 2nd Session (day 58)

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, I am wondering, on page 358, the debt repayment, is that the total amount of money that is owed to the Housing Corporation by tenants?

Debates of , 18th Assembly, 2nd Session (day 58)

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, I'd like to start by asking about the surpluses that some of the local housing authorities have last year. The witnesses produced a total number, and I believe it was in the range of about $10 million. I'm wondering what the status of those surpluses is now and what plans those local housing authorities have made to spend those surpluses? Thank you.

Debates of , 18th Assembly, 2nd Session (day 58)

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I am a little unclear. I understand how the rent supplement program potentially could help with affordability. Are there other measures that might help with affordability? Thank you.

Debates of , 18th Assembly, 2nd Session (day 58)

Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I would like to table two documents. The first is a letter from YWCA NWT to the Aurora College Board of Directors requesting a reinstatement of the social work program. Mr. Speaker, the second is a letter of resignation from the South Slave representative on the Aurora College board because she does not support the cuts to the college. Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.

Debates of , 18th Assembly, 2nd Session (day 58)

I just asked the question. You need to ask the Minister. Thank you.

Debates of , 18th Assembly, 2nd Session (day 58)

Just to clarify my question, I think the Minister understood the question, but I am not talking about people who own their own homes. I am talking about people who are in public housing. So they would get a subsidy to stay -- no, sorry, I am making things worse. I am talking about keeping seniors in their current rental units with transitional housing support, and then that would bring them off the waiting list for public housing. That is where I was going with that.

Moving on, the lack of available spots demonstrates the need to devote more of our limited budgets towards meeting the...

Debates of , 18th Assembly, 2nd Session (day 58)

Billions of dollars would be very welcome in all different dimensions of our territory, not only in homeownership. I appreciate that there is more money in SAFE in this Securing Assistance for Emergencies. The thing about CARE, though, is that we need the money now. The number of seniors is, as everybody knows, growing very rapidly, and that includes now, and so this is one of these areas where we really need the investment so that people don't advance down to the more expensive options in the continuum of care.

So I urge the Minister to consider an additional investment in the CARE Program...

Debates of , 18th Assembly, 2nd Session (day 58)

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, in my opening remarks, I spoke about the need for transformative change by the Housing Corporation to meet the needs of people in the Northwest Territories for social housing. What we know is that the core need rates are fairly steady over time. We also know that the waiting lists are fairly substantial and not going down. We also know that the number of seniors in the NWT is forecast to increase by 40 per cent over the next seven years. As I spoke about earlier today in my statement, there will be a big need for social housing for many of those people. How is...