Thank you, Mr. Speaker. In my statement today I questioned the assistance to seniors housing and helping seniors that are currently in their own house and what is available. My question to the Minister of Housing is: What programs are currently available for seniors in their own home?
Thank you, Mr. Bouchard. The Minister responsible for the NWT Housing Corporation, Mr. McLeod.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. We recognize that we do have a lot of seniors across the Northwest Territories that try to be very independent and live in their homes. Through Housing we try to support them as much as we can. We have repair programs for seniors. Within the other departments they have some programs within their departments that are geared towards assisting seniors, because seniors like to be independent by nature and the fact that a lot of them want to live in their own places, but living on fixed incomes, with a lot of them, it is a bit of a struggle, so as the government we recognize that we need to do what we can to offer them some assistance to live in their unit. It’s still a work in progress, but I think for the most part, the government’s doing a very good job with assisting our seniors.
My question for the Minister of Housing is: What is Housing doing to alleviate some of the pressures for the seniors that are in their own house other than charging seniors rent, I guess?
Obviously, this government takes its role at trying to look after our seniors very seriously. That’s why a lot of seniors, for the last 16 years, that are living in public housing are not paying public housing rent, and a lot of seniors have sold their units to move into public housing because of that. We feel with the initiatives that we’re undertaking right now, it might keep more seniors in their own homes and free up public housing units for those that are really in need of public housing.
But as the Housing Corporation, I’ve relayed to the Member that we do have an emergency repair program that we are planning on rolling out. A lot of seniors have been able to access a lot of our repair programs where if they had to pay for it themselves, they’d be unable to do so and it would be a great burden to them. We have some of our programs that we roll out for the seniors, and again, government-wide there are many programs that offer some assistance to seniors.
My next question is: What kind of wait-lists are there in the Hay River area for senior housing currently?
If the Member is referring to a wait-list to get into public housing, I would have to get the information and relay it on to the Member. Obviously, a lot of our communities across the Northwest Territories have some waiting lists, but I will gather the specific information and relay it on to the Member for Hay River North. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. McLeod. Final, short supplementary, Mr. Bouchard.
I appreciate that information. Could the Minister be able to coordinate some of the information he provides to me that the government’s currently doing for seniors, along with coordinating with his other colleagues to give me the specifics on all that available for seniors in their own homes? Thank you.
I would be pleased to do that. I’ll have discussions with my counterparts and we’ll try to put all the information together with all the services that are provided to seniors. Because we are quite proud of the fact that, as a government, we do assist our seniors very well. I will put the information together and pass it on to all Members. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. McLeod. The honourable Member for Sahtu, Mr. Yakeleya.
