Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, we have 11 days until families -- 12 families, I believe -- are going to receive eviction notices having them move out of their homes in Deline. Mr. Speaker, some of these families have children that are going to school. Right now there is no homeless shelter in Deline and the inadequacy in the Sahtu is a high percentage, according to the 2009 NWT Housing Survey report.
I want to ask the Minister of Health and Social Services, the Minister responsible for Homelessness, what type of plans are in place once these people receive their eviction notices and they’re asked to leave their homes. What plans do we have in place in terms of helping these people who are going to be homeless?
Thank you, Mr. Yakeleya. The honourable Minister responsible for Health and Social Services, Ms. Lee.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, Health and Social Services is always there. We are the ones that receive people who, next to income security, are in need of us, so we will be there to help them. I’m not familiar with the details of the families, but if the families were evicted and they were in need of our services, our workers will be there to help them. Thank you.
Mr. Speaker, in 11 days… I know the Minister communicated with me that the local housing authority along with the tenants are trying to work out some repayment of the situations. However, the fact of the matter is that they have eviction notices signed off that families have to get out of the house, basically, and these families are, again, looking forward to seeing where they go. I know the Minister has indicated being there for the people. How, in this small community of Deline, will we look after 12 families that are going to need shelter? Because that’s going to cause other problems in the future.
My understanding is that if any of those residents could arrive at a repayment plan with the Housing Corporation, their eviction notice could be set aside, and those repayment plans can be for very modest amounts. So if that were to happen, that would avoid eviction.
Mr. Speaker, our staff do work with the Housing Corporation and other agencies to come up with a plan to help if it’s necessary. I would be willing to make sure that our staff in the region knows and sees what resources they could provide. Thank you.
