Robert C. McLeod

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. It was quite a growing concern a few years ago with the number of vacancies that we had in our home ownership portfolio. I always credit a lot of that to the good work done by the corporation in making use of the money that we got from Ottawa. We had to use the money or we would lose it, so we tried to get as many units on the ground, and that left us with the problem of trying to fill a lot of these vacant units.

I think in the last year or so, we’ve done a very good job in filling these units. We’ve converted some of them over to public housing. We’re trying to find...

Mr. Speaker, we’re going to review how we deliver our programs in the small communities. We want to ensure that our residents in the small communities feel like they are well served by the NWT Housing Corporation in filling out applications. I think we have said in the past that, if there is a need to supply translators so they know exactly what they’re getting into, then we will provide that too. There is still a little bit of work that needs to be done. I think we’re taking some good steps in ensuring all of our residents across the Northwest Territories have equal access to our programs...

Mr. Speaker, the Member is correct. The intake cycle is over. We are evaluating a lot of the applications. There are some that get approved fairly quickly because of the information they provide. There are some we still need to work on. I’m not quite sure when the exact evaluation of all applications is done. However, when it is, I will inform the Member and Members of the House. We will see, at the end of that cycle, how many vacant units we have and then our plan going forward with those. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

I do know that we have 33 communities in the Northwest Territories. We have 16 of them that do have updated emergency plans, we have 15 that have emergency plans that need to be updated, and we have two communities without any type of emergency plan at all.

Mr. Speaker, the first thing that could happen is the tenants themselves could make a point of going into the LHOs and working out some kind of plan with the local housing authority, and then they can honour the plan. I believe that once they do that and they show good faith, I think good faith will be shown on the LHO’s part.

As I said before, it is a partnership. We will work with them, but they have to be willing to work with us also. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Mr. Speaker, the NWT Housing Corporation will do our part in trying to get people into units. At the same time, the clients themselves have to remove some of their own obstacles. In many cases all we ask is that they enter into some kind of an agreement with the LHO, and not only enter into it just to get back on the waiting list, but we would like them to honour it. We’ve seen situations in the past in a number of our communities, where a lot of clients that have been evicted have entered into a repayment plan or some kind of option with the LHO and they have honoured it. We’ve seen some...

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to provide an update on plans for supported housing for seniors. One of the priorities of the NWT Housing Corporation’s strategic plan, Building for the Future, was to develop infrastructure based on community needs including approaches to support housing for seniors and aging in place.

Seniors are the fastest growing segment of the territorial population. Currently, there are about 600 seniors that reside in public housing and the NWT Housing Corporation has units targeted for the senior population in many communities. Providing the opportunity for seniors to live...

As far as the policy goes, if there is an accident on the highway such as there was last week, I mean, first of all, being good neighbours that NWT people are, they will respond to accidents and do what they can to assist. As far as whose jurisdiction that is, that is a question that I’m not sure about. We would like to think that our communities would be equipped to deal with situations on the highway, and that’s part of how we’re going to do business now. The plan, through MACA, is to offer training to those that want to be qualified as first responders, and that way that will enable them to...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I’m not sure of the exact number; however, I would assume that in places like Yellowknife and Hay River and those on the highway system with properly trained first responders would have ambulance services.

Mr. Speaker, no, we will not adjust their arrears. There have been opportunities in the past through a number of different programs where the arrears have been adjusted, the latest one being when it was transferred. The role of the assessment was transferred back to the Housing Corporation or the LHOs from ECE. A lot of adjustments were made at the time and there was a significant decrease in arrears.

Again, a lot of times it’s a matter of the client coming in, verifying their income, because if you don’t verify your income, you are automatically assessed at market rate and that tends to have...