Mahsi cho, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, today in the House I talked about the need for the NWT Housing Corporation to do repairs on seniors housing in Tu Nedhe. I have questions for the Minister of Housing.
Mr. Speaker, last year when I asked the Minister if there was a strategy to address communities with the high core need, his response was as soon as the need survey is done, we can look at something. The survey is complete now. I would like to ask the Minister what the plans are for addressing communities with the highest core need across the Territories. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Beaulieu. The honourable Minister responsible for the NWT Housing Corporation, Mr. Robert McLeod.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the community needs survey will go a long way in determining the allocation for repairs. We are planning on directing a lot of money to the communities that are in highest need so we can address the core need issue. Thank you.
Now that the needs survey has been completed, I am going to ask questions on the survey. The Minister and the staff may not have had a full opportunity to review it, but I’ll still ask a question. I would like the Minister to tell me what plans are undertaken to address core need issues for seniors’ households. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
As I was saying before, the results from the core needs survey will determine how we allocate a lot of the money and if that includes allocating more money to seniors, then that’s the direction that we’d be willing to take. We do have a lot of programs in place for seniors and there is a fairly good uptake on it, but we are always looking at ways to improve our product. Thank you.
Can the Minister tell me with the information gathered in the needs survey, if he’s able to determine the difference between core needs of seniors, singles, families and those different groups within the Northwest Territories? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
The report doesn’t necessarily break it down into seniors and homeownership and that, but in the research that was done, I’m sure that I would be able to get some numbers and share those with the Member. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. McLeod. Final supplementary, Mr. Beaulieu.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Will the Minister commit to directing his staff to deliver the maximum amount of repairs that can be issued with a promissory note where there is no need to encumber the land? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
There used to be a program in place where if you were on untenured land, you were eligible for up to $25,000. We changed that. You are eligible to up to $40,000 now. As Members are well aware, part of the criteria for accessing any of these programs is to have title to the land. So we are continuing to try to take steps to work with those that don’t have proper tenure to the land and there are a lot of other issues that we continuing to deal with. One of the first issues that we are always deal with when we do get calls, the first question we ask them is did you apply. Five times out of ten, the answer is no. We encourage folks out there to apply to their district office and not try to circumvent the whole process by going directly to the MLAs or to the Minister. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. McLeod. The honourable Member for Nahendeh, Mr. Menicoche.
