Thank you, Mr. Speaker. How does the Housing Corporation decide, Mr. Speaker, on what the economic rent should be in each of our communities? Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Jacobson. The honourable Minister responsible for the Northwest Territories Housing Corporation, Mr. Robert McLeod.
Perhaps I can get one of our more experienced managers to explain that from up there. Maximum rent is looking at the cost to operate the unit in the community and you’re looking at the water and the power and all other utilities. So it’s actually the cost of operating that unit in the community. Thank you.
Mr. Speaker, when the Housing Corporation does its Housing Needs Survey, affordability is always a big problem across the Northwest Territories. Even here in Yellowknife. Mr. Speaker, I assume the Minister agrees that $3,000 a month for a three-bedroom unit is not affordable, unless you’re making a lot more money than most people in our small communities. So how is affordability taken into account in the economic rent? How is it set for this house in Sachs Harbour?
Well, it would be set in Sachs Harbour as it would be set in all other communities. Obviously, the cost of operating a unit in Sachs Harbour is going to be a lot more than it is for a community in the South Slave. That’s where they would set the rate.
I have to add that there are very few tenants across the Northwest Territories that actually pay the maximum rent. I think we may have 12 or 13 people across the Northwest Territories. The last time I heard it was 19, but it may have gone down since then. Those are the people that we’re trying to graduate out of public housing and into homeownership. Thank you.
Mr. Speaker, I’d like to know, the problems that have caused the rental arrears growing across the Territory, what happens to families who find themselves way behind on paying their rent and the situation of the Housing Corporation, a big problem in arrears with the Housing Corporation and being evicted. Thank you.
Mr. Speaker, the process of being evicted is a very long process. It’s not one where the LHO gets to work and decides they’re going to evict somebody today. They’re given many opportunities to try, especially with the arrears, they’re given many opportunities to try and deal with the arrears. Sometimes all the LHOs ask is that you come in and work out a repayment plan and then you get to keep the unit. A lot of tenants have gone to the boards, appealed to the boards and they’ve been given a kind of last chance, last chance. It’s an awfully long process before they get to the actual eviction. They give out termination notices. Sometimes those are just designed to get the tenants’ attention and make them realize that they need to start dealing with some of the problems, especially the arrears problems that they’re facing. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. McLeod. Your final, short supplementary, Mr. Jacobson.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Will the Minister adjust the economic rent system so that the rental public housing is affordable so people can go find some work? Mr. Speaker, I also heard the Minister earlier today speaking about the Beaufort-Delta and the economic rent scale in regard to the pilot project. If the Beaufort-Delta housing would be able to get on a pilot project for rental, the calculations for the economic rent, to drop that rent scale down, is it possible to do a pilot project like the Beaufort-Delta, in my communities that I represent? Is it possible? Thank you.
Mr. Speaker, the Member is referring to the regional rates that I was referring to earlier. This is something that we are just in the process of considering right now. It’s something that we have to explore a little further. I mean, we’ve heard the argument on the difference in the rental from one small community to one that’s 20 minutes away. As far as using the Beaufort-Delta as a pilot project, once we decide if this is one that’s worth pursuing, then maybe we have to look at something like that, because the rental rates in the Beaufort-Delta are a lot more inconsistent and a lot higher than they are in the southern part of the Territories. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. McLeod. The honourable Member for Frame Lake, Ms. Bisaro.
