Debates of February 24, 2005 (day 43)

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I have a quick question for the Minister responsible for the Housing Corporation with regard to the use of trailers as opposed to stick-built units in the communities. In my community, in Deninu Kue, we have five trailers situated there at a cost of $130,000 per unit. If there was some preplanning done before this whole market initiative was rolled out last year with the ordering of 20 trailer units, I think there would have been better response from community members in both my communities if this government had invested the $650,000 and built a stick-built apartment building. We would have had a 10-unit apartment building for $650,000 that would ease up the whole market housing clog that we have in our communities. Now we are stuck with five empty trailers that nobody wants.

Shame, shame.

I think the stick-built approach would have been something better to look at in the long term and invest into with regard to this…

Do you have a question, Mr. Villeneuve?

Oh, a question…

---Laughter

There are 22 units on the books here for this year. I am just wondering if the government would consider looking at the cost of those units with regard to the cost of having a stick-built one-bedroom apartment complex in these communities as opposed to two trailers. Thank you.

---Applause

Thank you, Mr. Villeneuve. The honourable Minister responsible for the Housing Corporation, Mr. Krutko.

Return To Question 481-15(3): Alternative Housing Options

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, again, this was an initiative that was done trying to ensure that we meet the needs of our communities and looking at the long-term initiative. The first phase was to try to accommodate the professionals in communities. We heard from the DEAs and the education councils. They said there was a need for housing in those communities. By the time these units were in place in those communities, a lot of people…Right now, we have Fort Res residents approaching the Housing Corporation to purchase these units. In Fort Res, those units came in at a cost of about $190,000.

Right now, we are open to looking at buyers in those communities. We know there is a major housing crisis in Fort Resolution. In order to accommodate that, we have offered these to professionals. If they are not available, we will consider looking at other tenants.

In Fort Resolution, you have units you didn’t have on the ground a year ago. They are available, they are there for sale and we do have individuals interested in purchasing these units in Fort Resolution.

Thank you, Mr. Krutko. Time for oral questions has expired, but I will allow you to finish with a short supplementary question, Mr. Villeneuve.

Supplementary To Question 481-15(3): Alternative Housing Options

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I don’t know if the department looks at long-term, but a 20-year life on trailers is not really looking long term as far as I am concerned with the housing initiative. When we are thinking long term, we have to look at least 50 years down the road. At a cost of $190,000 per unit, we are looking at almost $1 million spent in one community and they haven’t been utilized for a year now. The $1 million could have gotten a good size one-bedroom apartment complex, or maybe two. With the second phase of this new market housing initiative that’s going to be rolled out this next year and the new trailers and the redesign of the trailers, with the people who are now going to purchase these other units in Lutselk’e and other communities that these whole units went to, how is that going to offset the real market demand of low income families who demand market housing? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Villeneuve. Mr. Krutko.

Further Return To Question 481-15(3): Alternative Housing Options

Mr. Speaker, we do have programs through the Housing Corporation, such as the EDAP program or the IHP program. They are programs to assist from social housing into homeownership. What we have done is amortized this over 25 years. So by extending it by an extra five years, it brings down your mortgage costs and will make it more affordable for clients. We are working with clients in communities to ensure that they make that transition. I think because of lifting the moratorium, we are working with clients in all the different communities and counselling them to see if they are interested in getting into these programs. So we are working with existing programs and we have programs in place to assist people getting into homeownership. We want to get people in social housing who are paying high rents to get them into homeownership and this is one of the ways we can do that.

Thank you, Mr. Krutko. Short supplementary, Mr. Villeneuve.

Supplementary To Question 481-15(3): Alternative Housing Options

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I guess with reference to some of these programs that are going to help these people get into homeownership, with reference to some of the programs the Housing Corporation used to run, the HAP program, from the feedback I have been getting from Housing is that that was a very successful program, but that was sunsetted a few years back. The good part of that program is people were able to at least assist in building their own houses. Sweat equity was a big consideration in that program. I think a lot of people took a lot of pride in participating in constructing their own house. What consideration would the Minister give to developing a program that is similar to some of these older programs that were quite successful? It seems that this government always sunsets programs that are successful and I just don’t think that’s good governance. I hope people’s feedback, with these good programs, are taken seriously. Would the Minister consider a program of similar nature for housing clients?

Thank you, Mr. Villeneuve. Mr. Krutko.

Further Return To Question 481-15(3): Alternative Housing Options

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. We do have such a program, but people aren’t really made aware of it. We do have a log housing initiative that is in place. Individuals who want to go out who want to harvest their own logs, peel their logs and bring them back into town, can have them ready on the site. There is a program to assist those people by way of getting a package from the corporation for the electrical and materials to finish off the unit. Because of the log housing initiative that has happened such as HAP, we ran into problems. The new initiative is based on single, one-storey units. Sweat equity is the whole idea of this program. It’s a log housing initiative where the client goes out, cuts the logs, brings his logs into town, peels them and has them on the site. Then they will be assisted through this program. Thank you.