Debates of October 27, 2004 (day 29)

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, my questions today are for the Minister responsible for the NWT Housing Corporation. Mr. Speaker, in my Member’s statement I outlined the mandate of the NWT Housing Corporation. I was just wondering if the Minister could, just in rough percentages, tell us how much of the mandate in the resources and energy of this corporation is devoted to social housing needs versus these other things such as economic development initiatives, research, training, these other things. Thank you.

Thank you, Mrs. Groenewegen. The Minister responsible for the Housing Corporation, Mr. Krutko.

Return To Question 320-15(3): Social Housing Resources

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, we received roughly $35 million from CMHC for social housing. As was mentioned in the House, those dollars are declining over the next 30 years. We are seeing it basically decline to zero. So because of that, we are having to refocus our efforts through looking at our mandate, but also instituting our business plans and working with communities through partnership agreements. I believe at the end of the day the people that make the difference are people in communities at the frontline through the local housing authorities, those organizations to devolve these authorities from the pot to ensure that those program responsibilities will be delivered to the client, which in most cases are in the communities. So we are looking at changing the mandate, coming forward with a 10-year plan and also realizing we have a major decline in cash flow, especially from the federal government through the CMHC funding, which again is $35 million which will decline over the next number of years.

Thank you, Mr. Krutko. Supplementary, Mrs. Groenewegen.

Supplementary To Question 320-15(3): Social Housing Resources

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, would the Minister know just approximately a ballpark figure as to what is spent by the NWT Housing Corporation on administrative overhead of headquarters? Thank you.

Thank you, Mrs. Groenewegen. Mr. Krutko.

Further Return To Question 320-15(3): Social Housing Resources

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I don’t have that information presently at hand. I believe it is in the audit report that I tabled in the House earlier this week, but I will definitely get that information for the Member.

Thank you, Mr. Krutko. Supplementary, Mrs. Groenewegen.

Supplementary To Question 320-15(3): Social Housing Resources

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the reason why I ask about how the mandate is divided and how much is spent on administrative overhead versus program delivery is because I believe that there are a lot of things that could be done that may seem smaller scale than building a lot of new housing units. I noticed, since I travel in the communities, that there are a lot of boarded up, vacant housing units in all of our communities, particularly in the smaller communities. I would like to know if the Minister has an idea of what kind of inventory of vacant units the NWT Housing Corporation has across the North. Thank you.

Thank you, Mrs. Groenewegen. Mr. Krutko.

Further Return To Question 320-15(3): Social Housing Resources

Again, Mr. Speaker, because we do have units that we maintain every other year, we put aside 10 to 12 units in a community so that we can renovate them over a period of time. We move our clients to different units. Because of the number of turnover that we have because of our maintenance programs, that number is inconsistent, so I can’t give the Member that information because it is a moving number. We do take units off of our system in order to meet our maintenance program. So because of that, those vacancies may not be…Again, I will make an attempt to get that information to the Member.

Thank you, Mr. Krutko. Final supplementary, Mrs. Groenewegen.

Supplementary To Question 320-15(3): Social Housing Resources

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I am thinking about more units I have seen in the communities that are boarded up. They look like no one has lived in them for quite some time, but they still may have some salvage value. The NWT Housing Corporation, if in fact they own them, might do well to turn those over to band councils, community corporations, a private developer, somebody who would want to put these units back into circulation in the communities so that there are more housing options available to those residents. Would the Minister commit to undertake an inventory of units that are not vacant because of maintenance, but are vacant because, essentially, they are out of service and abandoned? Thank you.

Thank you, Mrs. Groenewegen. Mr. Krutko.

Further Return To Question 320-15(3): Social Housing Resources

Yes, Mr. Speaker, we are in the process of doing that because we realize that we have to start identifying units that we have to dispose of, to have them replaced with other units. Right now, the way the local housing authorities receive the money, it is based on O and M dollars for their unit. They don’t get any new O and M dollars for replacing those units until they actually physically replace those units. So if you are carrying those units, you don’t get extra dollars for those new units until you replace that unit. Because of that, it is something that we are looking at. We have now hired a lands person to identify what lands we have in communities, where our units are, which units are getting disposed of, so we know exactly what our total inventory is. We are doing that at the present time. Again, I will commit to the Member that once we have more of that detail in place, we are willing to share that with the Members. Thank you.