Thank you, Mr. Speaker. In regards to my Member’s statement in regards to the government programs and services, the implementation of the new programs PATH to CARE, HELP to STEP, it was put in place to hopefully improve the system that we had in place, but more importantly, to assist homeowners by taking advantage of these programs. Mr. Speaker, I would like to ask the Minister of Housing, has he seen an improvement in this program. Does he know exactly if there are faults in this program? Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Krutko. The honourable Minister responsible for the NWT Housing Corporation, Mr. Robert McLeod.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Obviously, there are challenges to some of the programs that we deliver. We are working to take steps to address some of the challenges, with the gap being one of the biggest ones, and hearing from Members across the floor is one that they have all identified. We have seen breaking it down in four programs has helped overall. We are spending a large amount of money on the HELP program, which is trying to get people into homeownership through a supportive lease-type program. We have about 228 of those units out there. There have been some improvements to the delivery of the programs but, as the Member pointed out, there are obviously some challenges and we are looking to try and address those. Thank you.
Mr. Speaker, I think the programs that we have, if they were implemented properly, we would be able to assist more people, especially with the Reduction of the Cost of Living. I think if we can find ways to assist people to do retrofits to their homes, improve their heating system, improve their electrical system, bringing their homes up to code, making them safe, that is the type of stuff I think this government should be supporting. I would like to ask the Minister, is there an appeals process for individuals who may not like the result of having their application refused, considered through a different method, instead of having to come to the MLA or go to the Minister. Is that something that is contemplated in this program?
Mr. Speaker, a formal appeals process doesn’t exist at the moment. They would be able to appeal to the program advisor or to the district director. In my office, we have had cases of people bringing their issues and their concerns forward. We have tried to address some of these. We usually follow up with questions to the district office. As far as an official appeal process, there is not one in place right now. Thank you.
Mr. Speaker, one of the biggest complaints you hear from people, on the application process, is the fairness of the program. They see people getting the program year after year, but they continue to apply year after year and get refused. It all comes down to how the program is being administered and the fairness of the program. In regard to that I’d like to ask the Minister exactly what the process is to ensure there is transparency and fairness in this program so the people who do apply are seeing results rather than applying year after year and seeing other people taking advantage of the program and not being able to be approved because they get frustrated from filling out applications. I’d like to ask the Minister, with regard to transparency and fairness, what the department is doing to look at those types of situations.
We’re always reviewing how our programs operate and getting feedback from clients out there, and Members, as part of that process. Of course, we’d like to have an application process that’s as transparent as possible, because there are a lot of people out there stating exactly what the Member has said. They have concerns in that they apply and apply. And we hear about it, and obviously Members across the floor hear about it. We just want to assure people out there that we do want to be as transparent as possible. If they have issues with their application process, we’re always willing to listen. Upon hearing this, if we can use these to improve the delivery of our programs, I think that would be very beneficial to us as Members of the Assembly and to the people out there who are delivering the programs.
Thank you, Mr. McLeod. Final supplementary, Mr. Krutko.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. With that, I am also hearing from the Minister that he realized that there has to be a mechanism in place to assess programs and services annually or every so often, to see what’s working and what’s not working. I’d just like to ask the Minister if there is going to be some sort of assessment process or assessment of the programs to see how it’s working, and if something is not working, what we can do to change it to improve the programs so that we can improve on what we have. Will he consider looking at assessing the program and try to find ways to improve this program?
We usually try to do an assessment of the programs fairly regularly and see what’s working and what can be improved. I can commit to the Member that I will have discussions with the officials and see when the next review of the program is, and I’ll advise Members of that and seek input.
Thank you, Mr. McLeod. The honourable Member for Weledeh, Mr. Bromley.
