Thank you, Mr. Chair. I move that this committee strongly recommends that the Northwest Territories Housing Corporation identifies the necessary funds to reinstate the community liaison positions during the 2010-2011 fiscal year. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Mr. Yakeleya. The motion is being distributed. The motion is in order. To the motion.
Question.
Question is being called.
---Carried
Committee, we’re on page 5-55. Agreed?
Agreed.
Questions? Thank you. Returning to page 5-60, information item, local housing organizations, grants and contributions. Questions? Sorry, Mr. Yakeleya, are you on page 5-60? Mr. Yakeleya.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. In terms of the LHOs’ ongoing operations, I made comments in the opening of this committee here with the transfer of the new program, the old new, whatever you call it from...(inaudible)… Is there somewhere in here that that’s going to be the transfer? So is housing now going to be assuming the control or the responsibility of the…(inaudible)…program?
Thank you, Mr. Yakeleya. Minister McLeod.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. No, Mr. Chair, the numbers aren’t reflected in here. This was a decision that was made. This was already done before we made the decision. So that particular thing may come forward in the form of a supp. Thank you.
Thank you, Minister McLeod. Committee, information item, local housing organizations, grants and contributions, page 5-60. Mr. Krutko.
Mr. Chair, there used to be an LHO in Tsiigehtchic, but for some reason they did away with the local housing organization. I’d just like to know what’s the chance of reinstating the local housing authority in Tsiigehtchic. They had it before and for some reason that got taken away. So I’d just like to know and also for other communities that do have housing organizations, I know that there have been issues raised about other communities. So especially in regard to Tsiigehtchic, what is it going to take to reinstate the local housing authority?
Thank you, Mr. Krutko. Minister McLeod.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. I may have to have a discussion with the Member, but my understanding is there is still an LHO in Tsiigehtchic with a manager and a maintenance foreman and an apprentice, I believe. So my understanding is there’s still an LHO in Tsiigehtchic, but I’d have to confirm that and I will follow it up with the Member. Thank you.
Yes, I think the question is a board, a local housing authority board, there is no board in Tsiigehtchic and I believe Paulatuk is in the same boat. So I’m just wondering what would it take to reinstate a local housing authority board, because we do have that throughout the Territories, but for some reason the board was taken away. So I’d just like to know what’s the chance of reinstating that in other communities that may have lost their boards, because we do have more units on the ground than we had before. I think, if anything, that that was the argument before. I think we do supply most communities where we do provide social housing. I think it’s important that we do have a board so that they are involved in the decision-making process, but, more importantly, dealing with the local disputes in regard to evictions and also dealing with allocation of units and stuff like that so that they have a say in how housing is run in the community. Thank you.
I’ll commit to the Member that we’ll have some discussions with the community and see if there’s a desire to have a board and if there is, there’s no reason why they shouldn’t have a board. So I’ll follow up in discussions with the Member and with the community and see where the interest is. Thank you.
One of the problems we run into, especially with a lot of our local authorities, is having the ability to evict people if you know that they are carrying out illegal activities such as bootlegging, selling drugs out of public housing units. I think for a lot of our residents in our community they get frustrated saying that you know this is going on, you’re not doing anything about it, and I know we’ve been looking at changing the rules. I believe the way it reads right now, you are not allowed to carry out any illegal activities in public housing, but I think it’s a question of how far can you go in regard to removing people. I think it’s a frustrating situation where the community is trying to combat alcoholism and drug abuse in our communities, but when they see a government providing subsidized housing for these people to carry out that activity, I think it totally flows against the whole idea of controlling these problems we have in the community. So the Housing Corporation is seen as an agent that’s helping these people carry out that activity. So I’d just like to know what are we doing to either give more powers to the local housing authority or enhancing the agreements that we sign with tenants so that they are aware that you are accountable for your actions and we won’t tolerate it. Thank you.
The Member raises a good point and it’s a concern that’s shared across the Northwest Territories, especially in some of the smaller communities. A lot of the LHOs have zero tolerance, where if they know that you’re carrying out illegal activities, then it’s within their power to do something about it. But part of the problem is getting people to come forward and identifying them, because there’s a process that you have to go through. I think that’s the toughest part, because you get calls and you know who’s doing illegal activities. Some of it could get tied up in the law’s hands, and if you make assumptions then you have to make sure -- the way things work today -- you’ve got solid evidence to back it up. I think the LHOs are aware of a lot of the folks in the community that take part in illegal activities and they monitor them and if there’s an opportunity for them to terminate them, then I know a few of them that have done that. But getting people to come forward is one of the big things. There’s a bit of a fear factor there…(inaudible)...
…(inaudible)...item local housing organizations, grants and contributions. Questions?
Agreed.
Page 5-61, information item, lease commitments, infrastructure.
Agreed.
Page 5-62, information item, infrastructure investment summary.
Agreed.
Page 5-62, information item, infrastructure investment summary.
Agreed.
Page 5-63, information item, infrastructure acquisition plan. Mr. Yakeleya.
Mr. Chair, in light of what we’ve just been reading now, the survey of the NWT community housing components and the old 2004 survey with the acquisition for the infrastructure, I’m going to have to look at it. I’m just asking the Minister, does that match with our needs in the Nahendeh, the Sahtu and the Beaufort-Delta in terms of the dollars that we’re spending to bring down the core needs, the percentages? I haven’t done my own analysis so I want to ask the Minister that. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Yakeleya. Minister McLeod.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, our plan is to proceed with this year’s infrastructure acquisition plan, and then when we do the budget for next year, the community needs survey is going to go a long way in determining how we allocate the money. Thank you.
Thank you, Minister. Next on my list is Mr. Krutko.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, in regard to the infrastructure acquisition plan, these units are allocated or were approved in the budget on the basis of these units being approved. Because something that frustrates me is when you have regional staff telling people in the communities you may not be getting those units. I don’t think it’s up to those people at the regional level to make that decision. The decision is made here in this Legislature. We’re the ones that are approving this budget. I think it’s frustrating for myself to get phone calls from local people saying, sorry, those contracts might not be let in your communities where they may reallocate. There’s a process for that. It’s called the Financial Administration Act. If you’re going to move any money around in any person’s riding, you have to inform them ahead of time. Not have some bureaucrat at the regional office trying to dictate something that the budget hasn’t even approved yet. I think that, for myself, that frustrates me that I have to deal with those types of phone calls from someone that basically does not have the final authority on making that decision and yet they’re going ahead and making those comments. So I’d just like to know from the Minister, is this department going to be moving units around out of this budget to other locations before we approve this budget item or has that decision already been made?
Thank you, Mr. Krutko. Minister McLeod.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, for the 2010-11 infrastructure budget there has been no decision as to… The Member is right; this is a budget that’s approved here in the Legislative Assembly. So there’s been no decision as to moving any of the projects around. If there is, once the budget is approved, if we have issues where there might be some projects moved around, then, obviously, the Member is correct, we’d let the Members know.
We’ll have to follow up on the Member’s concern about people in the communities getting phone calls. If the Member will allow us to follow up with that and see what we could find out and then we’ll get back to the Member or I’ll get back to the Member personally and let him know what I found out. So without knowing the details of that, I can’t really comment on it, but we will follow up on it very rigorously. Thank you.
Another question I have in regard to this page is the majority of the projects are in regard to retrofits. I know that the local housing authorities, in most cases, do most of the retrofits on their own. I’m just wondering, is there extra money available for a community housing authority to take on more capacity by hiring more people when they have to basically do these major retrofits. So I think that, if anything, this is a perfect opportunity, especially for our communities who are struggling economically.
There’s not much happening, especially in the Beaufort-Delta region and people are looking for work. This is probably something that they can look forward to. I’d just like to ask the Minister, is there going to be any resources given to either local housing authorities or those community organizations to take on this work and they can do it in house, do it in their home communities and build the capacity there to do a lot of this work in our communities than having to tender it outside of our of communities. Thank you.
Mr. Chair, there’s always an opportunity there for LHOs that want to take this work on themselves. You’ll find in most communities this is a source of summer employment for a lot of people. There are people that have been working on M and I projects for the last 16, 17 years and it’s basically their employment for the year. What they would do, as far as extra money goes, the budget that’s budgeted here, I mean, they’d fit that into their budget. Their money would probably go a lot further than if they were to bring a contractor in, and I think some of the LHOs are recognizing that. So taking on some of the M and I projects themselves. There’s always going to be projects out there that are going to need a little more specialized trade and those ones they’ll bring in, but communities are very good at identifying what work that they’re able to do and what their capacity is. I know communities that have 16, 17 guys working for the summer doing these M and I projects. So the opportunity is always there for the communities to take this work on themselves. Thank you.
Thank you, Minister McLeod. Committee, we’re on page 5-63, information item, NWT Housing Corporation, infrastructure acquisition plan. Questions? Mr. Yakeleya.
Mr. Chair, just more of a comment here in terms of the programs that are under this budget here in terms of the homeownership entry level program. I just like to give a comment to the Housing here in terms of these programs. The STEP program, the HELP program and the other programs, they offer the PATH program, the CARE program. I think that’s probably one of the best written up programs I’ve read. I had the opportunity to read the STEP program. It’s dynamite stuff that’s there that should be going to the communities. Hopefully, it will be somehow, when we have aboriginal peoples taking these programs, there’s translators and that there that provides that. I think the Minister made a comment to that before, so I’ll take up on his comments here and I’ll review it. So I just wanted to give kudos to the department for some good work being done there. Too bad that the STEP program -- and I might be off topic, Mr. Chair -- but the STEP program is to offered in the communities. Even people who have housing from the HAP units or the SHAG units that could take this program without… Because I understand there’s a requirement to take some of these programs that some people may not qualify for. So more of a comment to them. That’s it. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Yakeleya. Minister McLeod.
Thank you. We appreciate those comments. I just wanted to respond saying that we are looking at that right now, is having folks that are looking after their own houses as part of this program. Also, I think that there was a concern with elders and people that didn’t understand that were applying for a program, but there’s an opportunity there for somebody to attend the program on their behalf.
Thank you, Minister McLeod. Committee, page 5-63, information item, NWT Housing Corporation, infrastructure acquisition plan.
Agreed.
Page 5-64, information item, infrastructure acquisition plan.
Agreed.
Page 5-65, information item, infrastructure acquisition plan. Questions?
Agreed.
No questions. Committee, I’ll have you turn to page 5-41. Mr. Krutko.
Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I note that there’s the Education, Culture and Employment public housing rent supp. I’m just wondering if that would be changed to simply refer to the public housing rent supp and remove the wording “Education, Culture and Employment” and how soon are we going to see that change.
Thank you, Mr. Krutko. Mr. Krutko, just for confirmation, are you on page 5-41?
