Kevin A. Menicoche

In some of our communities in the Northwest Territories we did get some new houses, but the number of affordability problems continues to increase and this trend raises questions about eligibility for housing programs. So just once again, perhaps if I ask a different question a different way, Mr. Speaker, if I can. The current intake was completed October 14th. Does the Minister have enough statistics to compare the number of clients that applied this year as compared to the last three years? Thank you.

Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. I’d like to ask my question to the Minister responsible for the NWT Housing Corporation.

Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. The importance of this day is that we as Regular MLAs will let government know once again of how important housing issues are to our people.

Last week I spoke in the House about how residents are having difficulty being approved for NWT Housing Corporation programming. Many of my constituents are frustrated, because they cannot get assistance due to the eligibility criteria. To be eligible, a person or family cannot make too much money or too little.

This window of core need income threshold guidelines, I feel, is very small. The same problem exists for homeowners who want...

What exactly does lot development mean? Is it the same lot that the unit’s going on so there’s only one other lot being developed, or what’s the process with the lot development?

Thank you very much. That kind of clarifies it to me. That four-plex building, I’m glad to see that it’s back on-line and is being utilized. It’s something that the community of Fort Liard has certainly wanted to see up and running again.

Just in terms of Wrigley, the two units, the duplex, this says replacement of the current public housing unit. Maybe the Minister can comment on that as well.

One of the ways, if you’re going to create a study there, Mr. Chair, I believe that you should address those needs and we’ll certainly have that discussion when we talk about the business planning for 2011-12, Mr. Chair. But in terms of this budget, it’s not really reflective of the identified core need. I was very pleased to see that study, because that study actually only confirmed what my constituents and I have been telling the Housing ministry for years and years, that these needs have to be addressed. In fact, when I go to Fort Liard, they’re saying that they actually need 30 homes to...

Thank you very much, Mr. Chair. I’m pleased to review the infrastructure investment by the NWT Housing Corporation. In my riding, of course, this is one of the regions with the highest core need. So I’m interested to see how the corporation is addressing that fact in the capital plan that’s before us, Mr. Chair. If I could get the Minister to review some of the capital expenditures for the Nahendeh riding just to see how it reflects to address the core need that’s there. I’m just kind of counting quickly and by comparison to other ridings, I don’t see that much, but perhaps there’s more in the...

Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. I rise, too, to support the motion as well.

I think when I travel to my communities and talk to constituents, they always raise the issues of affordable housing. I think it was best said by a constituent I had run into at Northern Stores in Fort Simpson; they said, don’t call it low-rental housing if it’s not.

I think one of the ways we can address this is by actually looking at this proposal in this motion. When the Minister does his review of the rental scales, I think this a viable option to address those concerns and make those homes affordable. There are...

I was just trying to get a comparison to the intake for this year and how many people are actually eligible as opposed to the intake we took from last year or, say, the year before. Thank you.

I spoke earlier about the eligibility and it’s a concern as I travel around to my communities within my riding. A lot of people are saying that they’ve applied, they’ve got their rejection letter saying that they’re not eligible. So it raises the concern to me, Mr. Speaker, just how many people are eligible for NWT Housing programs. We’ve got a community core need income threshold level. So I’d like to ask the Minister just what range of a client are we looking for. How much can they make? Well, he can pick one of the communities in my riding. How much can they make and what’s the lower limit...