Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
WHEREAS seniors are valued and respected members of our communities who have contributed throughout their lives and deserve our support to live independently as long as they are able;
AND WHEREAS the Northwest Territories Housing Corporation is currently undertaking a review of its programs and services;
AND WHEREAS most communities in the Northwest Territories do not have independent housing units specially designed for seniors;
AND WHEREAS many seniors are on fixed incomes and, therefore, especially vulnerable to increases in the cost of living;
AND WHEREAS seniors are especially at risk when their homes fall into disrepair and many of them are not able to perform repairs themselves;
NOW THEREFORE I MOVE, seconded by the honourable Member for Sahtu, that this Legislative Assembly strongly recommends the NWT Housing Corporation reintroduce a home maintenance and repair program for seniors.
Mahsi cho.
Thank you, Mr. Menicoche. Motion is on the floor. Motion is in order. To the motion. The honourable Member for Nahendeh, Mr. Menicoche.
Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. Over the course of the last three or four years when the NWT Housing Corporation amalgamated its programs and services into four distinct packages, they had some real nice acronyms: HELP, CARE, et cetera. What it didn’t address was the need for seniors in those programming packages. Previously we had a strong seniors package within the NWT Housing Corporation. There was the Elders on the Land Program, some repairs programs, some maintenance programs. They were all distinct to help seniors in our communities and regions.
The last couple of years I have found that as I deal with seniors’ issues, I support them as they apply for Housing Corporation programs and services and I keep getting the response that there’s no specific seniors program that covers them at all. I go to ask further and they say, in reality, there are no seniors program, it was all deleted. Their applications are based on the general population.
I don’t think it’s fair. I think that we had distinct seniors and elders programming for the very reason to take care of our elders and seniors. I really think it was an oversight, a mistake by the Housing Corporation to lump them together with the general population. I don’t think they really thought this through.
There are many issues that myself as MLA and other Regular Members, and even the Ministers as MLAs themselves address many of the same concerns I’m sure in their specific ridings. I believe that we should move back to some distinct senior repairs and maintenance programming at the NWT Housing Corporation.
A lot of the issues that are out there are that they must address arrears. I spoke about having an independent appeals system to address arrears but our seniors’ arrears that are showing up are 20 years old. It counts against them when they apply for programming. I’m not too sure how this works, but somewhere in our laws and legislation, it might be federal, we have a statute of limitations that’s only seven years. I don’t know how they can apply something that happened 20 or 30 years ago against our seniors. That’s a real inequity there and it’s not really fair. I believe that must be addressed.
I don’t want to go too much further other than there’s a need that’s missing. It worked before. I believe we should introduce it. I look to the support of my colleagues and this House in urging our government to reintroduce this program and make it work for our seniors and elders in our communities.
Thank you, Mr. Menicoche. To the motion. The honourable Member for Sahtu, Mr. Yakeleya.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I want to thank the Member for Nahendeh for developing and asking me to consider seconding this. I’m very pleased to second the motion.
I’ve also looked at the seniors home repair initiatives that this Housing Corporation has put into our communities. It makes it quite difficult, even though the programs are there, for the seniors to apply to them and receive help. Sometimes they’re lucky, they can get the support. Sometimes they miss out because they don’t understand the applications or the process itself. It’s quite foreign to them. Some of them don’t understand the policies. There are some elders that are quite frustrated because of other issues that they’re unaware of or just the nature of living in small communities that prevent them from taking a step further in their application being accepted or looked at.
There were a lot of calls from my communities, especially Fort Good Hope where a lot of elders needed help. For example, the land issue of tenure becomes a real problem for the elders. When I go into the communities of the Sahtu and I go into Fort Good Hope, for example, they say we need our house fixed and Housing isn’t there. I explain to them that they need to put an application together and need to get that land tenure into MACA so that Housing can look at the application and go ahead. They give me quite a lecture on land and housing and when housing was first introduced into the communities.
If we could look at something that’s comprehensive, that seniors can go there and have one dedicated personnel from Housing Corporation just to work with the seniors, because right now we have the resources that work right across the board and sometimes we have personnel from the Housing Corporation that go into Deline. Sometimes the person doesn’t have a translator or interpreter with them. They go into the house and try to explain a program, as complex as we have them or as simple as we have them, to an elder that doesn’t quite understand English. So the elder nods his head or doesn’t quite know what’s going on. I have run into a few occasions in Deline where the Housing Corporation has gone into some of the homes there and the comments I hear back from the elders I say, well, did Housing come? They say, eh-heh. Did they talk to you? They say, eh-heh. What did you understand? They say, don’t know, they just went out. So there’s a real communication issue there with housing programs.
We need to take our time with these elders. The Sahtu has the highest core need in the region. I think that a seniors housing program can work. It takes a little more time with them and I think we need to put it in a separate area where they can just look after seniors and work with seniors and help them out.
Some of the programs are only so much dollars in each community and it’s first-come first-serve sometimes. Sometimes some of the houses are well beyond the dollars that are dedicated for a program, so the department has to look at how much money can be spent there.
Just in closing, the one incident that it brings to mind right now is an elder in Fort Good Hope -- and the Minister is well aware of this -- is an elder that lived on the land, he was well in his 70s or 80s, he left for his family on the land and his house froze up. The Housing Corporation did go there, and there was nobody there. The elder came back to a frozen line, sewer. This was late December. He went to see the Housing Corporation and apparently the person that’s responsible for Fort Good Hope and that area went on holidays for a couple of weeks, so the elder had to live in his house without any running water or the use of a flush toilet. Things like that are nobody’s fault, it’s just how things have worked out.
I really think this government needs to put some emphasis on our seniors, on our elders, into the house and put a program like this. I support this motion 110 percent.
Thank you, Mr. Yakeleya. To the motion. The honourable Member for Tu Nedhe, Mr. Beaulieu.
Mahsi cho, Mr. Speaker. I too will support this motion. I have a few reasons for wanting to see a program like this go. The main one is that I think we should focus on getting elders’ homes fixed, because of some of the things that Mr. Menicoche talked about. Mainly because in the small communities they do have fixed incomes and they can’t afford to fix their house. Even individuals that are working and would be considered working poor, actually have more income than most of the seniors who are living off of old age security.
The other thing is if we don’t address the issue of the seniors, and we’re not addressing it quickly enough with the CARE program, which they are eligible for but not frequent enough or there’s not as many CARE programs given out to the elders. I’m of the belief that all elders who have homes that they have to maintain their homes should be kept up to date and programs should be put in place to do that to ensure that their houses don’t fall beyond economical repair.
Just the whole idea of houses falling behind economic repair and the ramifications of that is quite something, actually. If a unit falls beyond economical repair, meaning that it’s costing more than 75 percent of the full value of the replacement of that unit, the government won’t put money into it. It just doesn’t make sense to because it’s beyond economic repair. But the senior will not move. So we have the option of having the senior either at one point saying the house is so poor that we’re going to have to build you a new house, which is going to be expensive; or we’re going to put you in residential care, which is going to be more expensive; or let the senior live in a dilapidated house. Those are the options as I see it.
If we put this program in place I think we will save these homes. We’ll save the government a lot of money in the future. And we will also make the first little move towards trying to develop markets in small communities, because markets in small communities would make it possible for the seniors to actually put money into their own home, their own money, because when there’s a market then that is considered equity as opposed to a non-market community where you can’t really accumulate equity.
I think elders owning their own home, that in general is something that is very good for this government. It’s economical for us as well. A lot of times the elders, as they get older, instead of moving into residential care they have somebody move in with them. So it’s always good to have a good unit for that to happen.
I’ll support the motion. I’m very pleased that the MLA for Nahendeh brought this motion forward. I look forward to the vote.
Thank you, Mr. Beaulieu. To the motion. The honourable Member for Frame Lake, Ms. Bisaro.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I am totally in support of this motion. I think for me there are two main reasons why I believe that this motion ought to be passed and taken action on. The first one is, I think, respect for our elders and our seniors. I think the fact that we at the moment lump them all together for home maintenance and repair is not a sign of disrespect, but we are not respecting them as we should.
The second issue for me is that I believe, and I believe I’ve heard the government say, that we want to keep our seniors in their homes as much as possible. We want to keep everybody in their homes as long as possible. I think if we have targeted funding for seniors’ home repair and maintenance, as Mr. Beaulieu has stated, their homes will remain habitable a lot longer.
We don’t want to take seniors out of their homes and put them into institutions. We, first of all, don’t have the spaces or institutions where we can put them. Secondly, I don’t think anybody wants to go to an institution until they absolutely have to.
I believe a targeted fund for seniors’ home repair and maintenance is something which will assist us in many ways. It will be more cost efficient than if we don’t do it. I think it would be relatively easy for the Housing Corporation to determine how many seniors we do currently look after to a certain extent. Take that percentage of the users of the Housing Corporation’s programs, target that percentage of funding to seniors’ home repair and maintenance. It should be a fairly simple thing to do.
The last time that we had seniors programs was in 2005, 2006, and the last numbers that we’ve got indicate that seniors did take up on seniors programs quite a bit. Preventative maintenance in the Sahtu, 60; South Slave, 87; North Slave, 104; Nahendeh, 27; and Beaufort-Delta, 89. Those are large numbers, Mr. Speaker, and I think it indicates that we have seniors who do want to stay in their own home, they do want their home to be comfortable, and they’re willing to look after it but they need some assistance. In my view, targeting funding for seniors particularly will accomplish that goal. I am in support of the motion. I urge my colleagues to be in support also. Thank you.
Thank you, Ms. Bisaro. To the motion. The honourable Member for Yellowknife Centre, Mr. Hawkins.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I’ll be voting for this excellent motion here today. I want to thank Mr. Menicoche for bringing it forward. Mr. Menicoche, I think, truly hits upon a nerve that should be a value that we wear on our chest every single day here. I mean, this Assembly quite often talks about its respect for elders and our seniors, and this motion replies to that call for action. It says that we should be helping people age in place. Aging in place is a philosophy out there to ensure that aging people are allowed to stay as independent as possible with the support of those around you, and at time that actually means government coming to the assistance to ensure that we help people age in place. In some particular cases that means home repairs, sometimes it means changing the old style bathtub into more of an accessible style or just updating hand railing and changing doors.
Mr. Speaker, it’s great value when we can allow a senior or an elder to be able to stay in their own home and not take away that independence. Mr. Speaker, it’s kind of like caging their spirit when you send them off to an institution or seniors home. I’ve heard the complaint from many seniors that there’s no way that they’re leaving their house, at least on their own two feet. It’s like taking their heart from their chest. To allow them to live in poor, unhealthy conditions, is society allowing to stand by and saying, but that’s okay. I believe that’s wrong. Mr. Speaker, I don’t want to see the spirit ripped out of seniors who can live on their own, and sometimes it’s in these unhealthy conditions that have been mentioned here that I think we could be doing a lot for.
Mr. Speaker, when a senior loses their house because it’s become either unaffordable or, of course, its maintenance has fallen into such disrepair, I’ve heard many people have referred to it as it’s like losing a loved one; the pain of being shipped off into a new place. Now, there are seniors' homes and they’re designed for certain reasons, but I think, by and large, we can allow ourselves to find ways to continue to support our elders in a loving way that shows them the respect and dignity they deserve.
Mr. Speaker, in closing, this motion is more than just home repair, it’s speaks to the spirit and the independence of our seniors and our elders and that can’t be lost. Mr. Speaker, again, I’ll be supporting the motion. I look forward to the rest of my colleagues in this as well. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Hawkins. To the motion. The honourable Member for Inuvik Twin Lakes, Mr. Robert McLeod.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I’ve outlined on several occasions in the past that under some of the new programs, seniors are eligible for more funding. Under the old Senior Citizens Home Repair they were eligible for up to $20,000 in funding. The funding we have nowadays is based on income, so a lot of seniors that qualify have very low incomes, so they quality for higher amounts of assistance. Then under the Preventative Maintenance Program the seniors are eligible for up to $2,000 each year.
Under the priority allocation and selection system, seniors and disabled persons receive extra points, so obviously they’re given priority ranking. Under the old program, forgiveness was fixed at 10 years and under the CARE program it’s between one and 10 years, depending on the amount of money received. So under the old program you had to wait 10 years before you were eligible to apply again. Under the new program, depending on how long, up to three years you could possibly apply for programs, so that would allow more work to be done on your unit.
In 2010, Mr. Speaker, there was 191 CARE applicants that were approved across the Northwest Territories; 136, or 71 percent of those, were seniors. Under the Preventative Maintenance Program 94 applicants were approved. Of those 94, 86, or 90 percent of those, were seniors. So that obviously shows that we recognize the importance of seniors and we respect our seniors and we treat them the way they should be treated.
Mr. Speaker, we also deliver some programs that are funded by CMHC that seniors can take advantage of. There’s the Emergency Repair Program. It provides up to $11,000 in assistance to low-income homeowners to undertake emergency repairs. We have the Home Adaptation for Seniors Independence Program that we deliver on behalf of CMHC, and it allows homeowners and landlords to pay for minor home adaptations to enable low-income seniors to live independently in their homes. There’s also the Residential Rehabilitation Assistance Program for homeowners. It provides financial assistance to low-income homeowners who own and occupy their house, in order to enable them to make some repairs to their house to meet a minimal level of health and safety.
However, Mr. Speaker, having said all that, we recognize that it may be beneficial if there are programs targeted specifically at seniors, and in recognition of this I have directed the officials at the Northwest Territories Housing Corporation to take some steps in advance of our next intake period, which is coming up next September, and we plan on introducing a targeted intake process for seniors that apply for all Housing Choices programs, including opportunities for seniors in each community to meet with district staff and be made aware of all the housing situations that are available to them. We want to implement a targeted communications strategy for seniors so they’re aware of all the programs that are available to seniors. We can allocate a portion of funding under CARE to seniors home repair as well as the Preventative Maintenance Program, and I think that’s one of the things that this motion speaks to. I think in taking these steps, we can increase the awareness of seniors of some of the programs that are made available to them and the enhanced benefits they can receive under our new program.
As well, as all Members know, Housing Choices is undergoing a full evaluation of all the programs that we offer. We see this as a way of providing an improved understanding of how the NWT Housing Corporation can better serve all residents, seniors included, and make some possible adjustments as need be.
Because, Mr. Speaker, this is a recommendation to Cabinet, we will be abstaining from the vote. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. McLeod. I’ll allow the mover of the motion closing comments. Mr. Menicoche.
Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. I’d like to thank my colleagues for their support. As well, I’d like to appreciate the Minister responsible for the NWT Housing Corporation for being proactive on this issue, but certainly there’s a gap in our programming. There’s a need here or else a motion like this would never have been discussed in our committee system and with other colleagues.
For instance, I’ve got a senior that exhausted all the programs the Minister spoke about, so how do we address his concerns? We’re going to have to come up with some kind of new program or a targeted program and try to work our way around it. There are many other issues that the seniors face, Mr. Speaker. They’ve got arrears issues that must be addressed. Like I said, they’re often many, many years old, and what are they doing there? You know, they’ve got to be exhausted.
In the end, Mr. Speaker, it is our job as a government to make life a little bit easier and to improve life in the communities. That’s what this motion does. It’s urging government to look; we’ve got to refine this. There’s apparently a gap, let’s work towards closing it. Let’s help those that are in need directly and not just make it a bureaucratic nightmare and say, sorry, you’ve exhausted all the programming, you’re not eligible, we cannot replace your furnace or your hot water tank at all.
