Lucy Kuptana

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I have a question for Mr. Hawkins and the staff. Why the change to the why the change to the bill was made, if you can explain that?

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. So for a tenant to avoid eviction, they can do the following things: The best thing a tenant can do is to maintain communication with the local housing association and then show that they're serious about complying with their tenancy agreement. That can be including adjusting their behaviours to reduce complaints about noise and disturbances, after 11 o'clock especially, and reducing or setting up a payment plan to pay down their debts to housing. If a rental officer hearing is set, it is important to attend and tell your story. So it's really important they attend the...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Housing NWT recognizes that it is a social agency and not just a landlord. So in many of the communities, public housing is one of the only options available to house people with lower incomes. This means that Housing NWT will, except in extraordinary cases, work much harder than a private landlord to maintain a tenancy rather than moving towards an eviction. These efforts include extra steps to communicate with the tenant and change the behaviours that can result in eviction. Except in the more severe cases, LHOs complete a tenant success plan checklist to ensure that...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I hope they haven't lost confidence because these are local agencies and these are local people that fill these positions, so it's important to have that conversation locally. And I'm willing to talk to residents. We are planning a tour of the Mackenzie Delta in April and I'm willing to have that conversation directly with any residents. So happy and looking forward to it. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. And thank you to the Member for the question. We do have policies in place. It depends on waitlists, housing availability, the size of the household itself, the application itself. So we review these things. I don't know if we need to change these policies, but this is something that we can consider and have a conversation with the Member. Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. A very serious process and ensuring that clients have the proper legal support, that's something I can look into and then follow up with the Member on to make sure that the information is correct and proper. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

There's many supports in place, Mr. Speaker. We have tenant relations officers. We have district office. We have the local housing associations. And we also have government services officers in the communities. So we have many supports in place, Mr. Speaker.

Mr. Speaker, Housing NWT offers a range of programs and services to meet different housing needs across the NWT. As Housing NWT engaged with stakeholders as part of their strategic renewal, Housing NWT recognized that it needs new tools to offer a clear understanding of the role of Housing NWT and the local housing organizations as landlords and the rights and responsibilities of tenants in our units.

Coming out of these conversations and the related recommendations, I am very pleased to announce that some of the initiatives that Housing NWT is implementing to support clients across all areas...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. In my heart of hearts, I wish I could write everybody off, but I can't. We're a housing corporation and we use this revenue to provide more housing throughout the Northwest Territories. But we look at individual cases every year. Housing NWT does look at individual cases, and we follow the Financial Administration Act. And if there is cases that the Member would like us to look at, we can look at those. We can review things but, again, we have to follow the law and our regulations. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Mr. Speaker, the process for collecting on a mortgage and rental arrears with Housing NWT is not different. It's the same institution, Housing NWT, same corporation. So the process is not different, Mr. Speaker. Thank you.