Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. I’d like to ask questions to the Minister of the NWT Housing Corporation, specifically to a seniors home repair program or lack thereof.
In 2006-2007, the NWT Housing Corporation consolidated its program into four programs and when they did that they took the seniors and elders’ repair element out of all the programmings and didn’t give them specific recognition. I’d like to ask the Minister of the NWT Housing Corporation what his department is looking at, how we can address the needs of our seniors and elders in our small and remote communities.
Thank you, Mr. Menicoche. The honourable Minister responsible for the NWT Housing Corporation, Mr. Robert McLeod.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The territorial government puts a lot of money into the care of our seniors and their homes. We have a preventative maintenance program that’s very well subscribed so that allows seniors to have work done on their units. Also through the CARE program, seniors that qualify can receive up to $90,000 in assistance to do the work in their homes and seniors usually are priority with the NWT Housing Corporation.
That’s not the response I get when I work with the Housing Corporation. They say specifically that there is no seniors program available. In the past we’ve had six successful programs. There was a Seniors Home Repair Program, a Seniors/Disabled Preventive Maintenance Initiative, Elders on the Land, Adaptation for Seniors’ Independence, Seniors Independent Living Strategy, and a Senior Housing Initiative. Those programs are non-existent in our Housing Corporation anymore. I believe that we should look at that and reinstate that. I’ve had situations in my riding where seniors are not eligible. They had to get in line with everybody else. I believe that these programs should be looked at, reinstated, or at least something similar.
Those programs, as the Member said, were all discontinued. They were rolled into our basket of programs. As I said, the senior preventative maintenance is still geared towards seniors. Our CARE repair program, seniors would qualify for a lot more than they would under some of the old programs, from $20,000 to $90,000. The Member said they had to wait with everybody else and that’s usually what happens, but seniors are given a priority, as I pointed out to the Member.
Seniors are given the priority but that doesn’t appear to be the case. I’ve got a senior in Trout Lake who applied for programming but exhausted all programming available that the NWT Housing Corporation has, even though he’s an elder and a senior. I asked specifically, he’s a senior, he needs emergency repairs, what can be done. They said, no, he’s exhausted all areas. That’s why I believe we should reinstate at least the seniors and elders repair program to address these specific needs.
We all have seniors in our ridings that would like to access some of the programs. Some of our seniors get turned down because of the income. If the particular person has exhausted all the programs that we have to offer, then there would be no need for repairs in this particular case. I’m pretty sure in this particular case we’re able to assist the senior and that again goes to show that even though they’ve exhausted all the programs that we have to offer and the money that comes with it, we’re still willing to assist a senior that needed our help.
Thank you, Mr. McLeod. Final supplementary, Mr. Menicoche.
Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. Despite that I still believe that our Housing Corporation should gravitate towards a seniors and elders program designed specifically for maintenance and care and even replacement of small household items. I’ll be making a motion to that later on in the day.
We had 416 elders up taking the seniors program in 2005-2006. Can the Minister even detail how many elders are up taking our programs this fiscal year?
I will get the information together for the Member. I know this particular year we’ve had over 800-and-something applications territory-wide. I’m sure we can break it down and get the numbers that the Member is requesting.
Thank you, Mr. McLeod. The honourable Member for Kam Lake, Mr. Ramsay.
