Robert C. McLeod

The Homelessness Coalition put some good work into this. They came forward with a business plan through the Canada Economic Action Plan. We were able to free up some money to make a small contribution to the overall cost of the project.

I will be pleased to provide a briefing note on the whole situation of Betty House to the Member and Members opposite.

Thank you, Madam Chair. Minister Miltenberger explained it very well. CMHC declining funding is probably one of the biggest drivers. Another one is the fact that we don’t collect enough revenue from our tenants. If we collected the amount of revenue that was due to Housing, then we wouldn’t have to keep coming back for the $1.7 million. Housing normally has been very good at funding it from within, but with the declining funding, again, it’s getting more and more difficult to try and find this money. We’ve actually had to bail out a particular LHO because they were unable to pay their utility...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Right now we’ve had nobody that is potentially affected by the evictions come forward and enter into repayment plans. We’ve got a month and a half left and we’re hoping that things improve in the meantime. Thank you.

Thank you, Madam Chair. Housing Corporation obviously recognizes that we have to cut our costs and is listening to some of the comments made by the Member in the past and some of the advice that he’s given on going to more multi-unit type facilities so that we can cut back on the heating. We’re upgrading and replacing a lot of older units with more energy-efficient ones. We’re trying to be more energy conscious in our renovations. Energy-efficient fixtures, there are LHOs that are replacing a lot of their incandescent lights. There’s LHOs that are replacing a lot of their toilets with low-flow...

We have had this in place now for approximately four months. We feel that is adequate enough time for people to come in and enter into repayment plans and try to honour them. No, we won’t be looking at extending the deadline, because we feel the people have had enough time. Thank you.

I’m not going to make a commitment to delay anything right now. However, I have assured the Member and Members of this House that we will have a very good product once we release it, and if that product includes the density study… I do recall seeing some maps with all the density of the lakes in question and the lake in Inuvik, and I can assure the Members that I will, as Minister of Municipal and Community Affairs, ensure that our department has a very good product before we release it and it’s one that is fairly acceptable to everyone. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The steps going forward, we have released a discussion paper, as the Member had noted in her Member’s statement. We had to get something on the table for the public to latch on to. The next steps are to consult with all affected stakeholders and use all the information we gather to do the final framework. Again, this is just a discussion paper; it is not the final product. We will be working on getting the final product out by June 30th of this year. Thank you.

As far as I know, we’ve had no groups come forward or approach the NWT Housing Corporation; however, I could be wrong. I would have to confirm that and relay that on to the Member. Thank you.

Mr. Speaker, I have a return to oral question asked by Mr. Dolynny on February 8, 2012, regarding policy on carbon monoxide detectors.

The Member enquired as to government policy on the installation of carbon monoxide detectors and their usage in public housing in the NWT.

I can advise the Assembly that the 2008 National Building Code requires that all buildings heated by a fuel-fired appliance have a carbon monoxide detector hardwired into the electrical system. This is not a requirement for houses built prior to 2008.

All public housing units built subsequent to 1995 have carbon monoxide...

We don’t go out and solicit these groups and see if they need our assistance. In many cases the groups will come and initiate the conversation with the Housing Corporation. Then again we would be willing to listen. This would be one that’s driven by the particular groups in the community. If they drive it, then it has a chance for success, rather than having Housing drive it where the chance of success is a little lesser. Groups like this that drive these initiatives in the community, that’s when it starts to work.