Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. Today, Mr. Speaker, I rise in the House to focus on a serious issue in my riding, and that is the transition from public housing to homeownership. The current NWT Housing Corporation policy on homeownership programs is creating an impossible environment for people to become homeowners.

Mr. Speaker, many of my people are employed with the diamond mines. According to the rent scale increase policy, anyone working at a diamond mine basically has no alternative but to consider homeownership. With household income, their rent will go through the roof with the new rent scale. Until such time as they find alternative solutions, they will be paying the maximum allowable rent for their unit; a huge increase in cost for them.

On the other hand, Mr. Speaker, if they owe arrears, they have to pay that off, on top of paying the high rent on their public housing unit before they will be considered in good standing with the corporation and eligible for a Homeownership Program. Sounds confusing, doesn't it?

In addition, Mr. Speaker, many people in my riding, because of their employment, were able to purchase trucks, skidoos, et cetera, for travel and hunting. These people didn’t realize that these payments would put them in an undesirable situation of carrying a high debt load. Because of the impact on their net worth, banks won’t even look at them for financing and, depending on the corporation's calculations, neither will they.

Shame

Henry Zoe

North Slave

Mr. Speaker, these people have no alternative solution except those available through the NWT Housing Corporation. The core need for North Slave, excluding Yellowknife, is an astonishing 35 percent. We need to address these numbers.

Mr. Speaker, these are just a few scenarios as to what is happening out there with the countless policy barriers to homeownership. My people are being backed up against the wall. The Housing Corporation is supposed to be encouraging and supporting clients' homeownership for high-income public housing tenants, rather than overwhelming them with countless policy barriers to homeownership.

Mr. Speaker, I don’t know of one person who would not want to own their own home. I think that anyone paying rent equal to a mortgage would rather pay into something that they own. Mahsi, thank you.

---Applause