Debates of August 15, 2007 (day 10)

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, my questions today are for the Minister of Education, Culture and Employment, Mr. Dent. It gets back to my Member’s statement from earlier in a topic that has been talked about in this House and in committee meetings for at least the past three years. It gets back to the transfer of the responsibility of the Social Housing Subsidy Program from the Housing Corporation to ECE. It was approximately nine and a half months ago the Regular Members on this side of the House passed a motion in this Assembly instructing the government to go back and take a look and take that program back from ECE and put it back in the Housing Corporation’s mandate, because Members were concerned and they were getting complaints from constituents that the delivery of the program wasn’t what it used to be. Here is a government that had a successful program under the Housing Corporation. They took $30 million right out of the Housing Corporation and put it into ECE and had to hire 14 people to deliver the same program that was being delivered the day before they did it for the $30 million. That has still not been fully explained to me.

Mr. Speaker, I would like to start off by asking the Minister what exactly has happened since that motion was passed with ECE to try to address the concerns that were outlined in that motion? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Ramsay. The honourable Minister responsible for Education, Culture and Employment, Mr. Dent.

Return To Question 121-15(6): Administration Of Social Housing Subsidy Program

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Since that time, the Housing Corporation and Education, Culture and Employment senior staff have gotten together to ensure that there is a working group that deals with issues and complaints. The Minister of the Housing Corporation and myself meet regularly to review whether there are issues. We are confident that we have moved the process along so that there are far fewer issues, Mr. Speaker. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Dent. Supplementary, Mr. Ramsay.

Supplementary To Question 121-15(6): Administration Of Social Housing Subsidy Program

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. In addition to the clients being impacted by what would seem to me poor delivery of service, also the housing authorities out there are being impacted because of ECE’s inability to calculate the subsidies in a timely fashion which in turn leads them to have some cash flow problems down the road in addressing fixing up units. I would like to ask the Minister if he has gotten any feedback from housing authorities in the Northwest Territories on the inability of ECE to accurately and timely get those assessments done. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Ramsay. Mr. Dent.

Further Return To Question 121-15(6): Administration Of Social Housing Subsidy Program

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. There are only two authorities in the Northwest Territories that continue to complain about the approach we are taking. Almost all of the housing authorities across the Northwest Territories are working together with staff from Education, Culture and Employment. Particularly with the new change in the Income Support Program, what we are hoping to do is to have a case management approach which brings people together from the Housing Corporation, Health and Social Services, Justice, if necessary, and Education, Culture and Employment to ensure we are delivering the services appropriately to each individual and family in the Northwest Territories rather than having the disjointed set of programs that we have had in the past. The staff from all of the departments now are committed to bringing services by working together better. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Dent. Supplementary, Mr. Ramsay.

Supplementary To Question 121-15(6): Administration Of Social Housing Subsidy Program

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I agree with the Minister that a centralized approach to government services, yes, that is possibly the answer here. But right now, it is done in a haphazard way. It is not a one stop shopping or one-window shopping per client. They have to go to two government offices, perhaps a bank, before they can deal with their rental subsidy. That is not the way it should work. I would like to ask the Minister what work has been undertaken to try to move us to that centralized government services approach? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Ramsay. Mr. Dent.

Further Return To Question 121-15(6): Administration Of Social Housing Subsidy Program

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The Government of the Northwest Territories, the Cabinet, has adopted a policy on income security. That policy speaks to how our approach to income security should take place. It is going to take some time to coordinate everything, but the first steps are taking place starting on September 1 when we roll out the new Income Support Program. We will be developing offices across the Northwest Territories to ensure that our subsidy programs are delivered in a more coordinated fashion.

This government right now delivers $120 million a year of direct subsidies to people. We want to make sure that we are providing those subsidies in the best and most coordinated fashion. We think that we can do that better by bringing things under one roof. But it is going to take us a while. We are trying not to move so quickly to disrupt the system so that it causes a lot of turmoil to people. We think that the approach we have taken will, in fact, resolve issues and by coordinating between the different departments, we will be able to offer one-stop shopping. It is going to take us a while to get there. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Dent. Final supplementary, Mr. Ramsay.

Supplementary To Question 121-15(6): Administration Of Social Housing Subsidy Program

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I just have one final question. It gets back to the committee the Minister was talking about with the Housing Corporation and ECE to listen to complaints or talk about complaints and how they are dealt with. I would like to ask the Minister if there is any opportunity for that committee to report back to the Members of this House on what complaints they are hearing and how they are dealing with them in an effort to try to examine how this program is being delivered? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Ramsay. Mr. Dent.

Further Return To Question 121-15(6): Administration Of Social Housing Subsidy Program

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. That work is being done with the direction of the president of the Housing Corporation and the deputy minister of the department, and then the Minister responsible for the Housing Corporation and myself meet with them in order to ensure that we are dealing with issues. So either Minister or both Ministers would be pleased to meet with committee to report on what we are hearing and how those issues are being resolved.