Robert C. McLeod

Mr. Speaker, having to come into the LHO was a process that was in place even before the transfer over to ECE. Whether you are employed or not, it asked you to come in every month to verify your income. If you didn’t come in, obviously you are going to be assessed at economic rate, but if you came in later and verified your income, then they would make the necessary adjustments. So the program has always been there. It was just a matter of reporting when the transfer took place to ECE, because not all communities had an ECE office and, therefore, we find ourselves in a situation we are in...

Mr. Speaker, I apologize if I misunderstood the Member’s first question. With the policies going back from ECE to Housing Corp, I am aware that we are using those at the moment. However, we are evaluating the whole process and we will be making some changes, ones that will be better for clients. Thank you.

Mr. Speaker, as far as an official public awareness campaign, there are no plans for that right now. We are working with tenants as they start to go back to the LHOs for the assessment. They are being told some of the processes that they could go through. In forums like this particular one and in my travels throughout the Territories this summer and different assemblies I went to, I did the same message that we had to start working on the arrears and there was an opportunity for tenants who accumulated arrears during the transfer over to ECE to come back, get their income verified, and...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. We have begun the work of looking at the arrears that were accumulated during the transfer over to ECE. We have noticed that the arrears did increase significantly during that time, so we are working on trying to find a way that we can get these arrears identified and have them dealt with. Thank you.

Mr. Speaker, with the transfer back to the Housing Corp, of the assessment, it’s my belief that things… We’re just in the early stages right now, but things are starting to improve. We see the assessment rates, the collection rates have gone up to almost… Some of the assessment rates in the communities are 97 and 98 percent, so that is a huge improvement, and I think that as they continue to go to the LHOs to get the assessments done, then I think we’ll see a significant improvement. It will take some time, as I said in responding to Mr. Abernethy’s questions. We’d almost have to look at it on...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. When the transfer went over to ECE, my understanding was that clients were going to go to ECE, get their rents assessed, and then they’d go back and pay the LHO. But as we’ve been hearing throughout the transfer, there had been a lot of difficulties with some not being assessed in a timely manner and we see some of the results of it today with the arrears. My understanding of the whole thing was that they were just going to go and get their arrears and… They were going to get their arrears assessed and then they were going to go to the LHO and pay the rent. Thank you.

Mr. Speaker, this would probably be a fairly lengthy process because we’d almost have to go on a file-by-file basis. But with the tenants starting to come back to the LHOs to get their assessments done, there’s an opportunity for them to verify their income that they had during that time and adjustments will be made on the arrears. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I would also like to recognize a constituent of Inuvik Twin Lakes, Maryann Ross. Thank you.

My understanding is there are a couple of outfits here in Yellowknife that provide this service. I would have to confirm. There may be a couple more out in the larger communities, but I will confirm that information and I will share it with the Member. Thank you.

I haven’t had an opportunity to look at the legislation that’s being drafted. However, I will commit to the Member that, as committee, they will have opportunity to have some say into what goes into this particular piece of legislation.