Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I think I’m representing Frame Lake. I’ve been speaking about income support a lot this sitting and I will again speak about income support today.
There are seemingly endless contradictory policies or rationale for denying clients that apply to income support. Today I have to highlight another one. We have residents who are homeless for any number of reasons. These same residents, if they’re homeless, are generally in need of assistance from Education, Culture and Employment and income support. For some, especially those with families, the only accommodation or housing where they will be accepted is a hotel or motel. But when they apply to income support for housing assistance, they are denied. Why are they denied? Because tenants in hotel or motel accommodations are determined by Education, Culture and Employment to be living in transitional housing and transitional housing is excluded from the Residential Tenancies Act, and for that reason ECE denies them assistance.
That application of policy contradicts the action ECE takes for tenants at the Salvation Army and the YWCA, tenants living in what is also considered transition housing, tenants who are, therefore, also excluded from the Residential Tenancies Act. Yet these income support clients do get housing assistance from ECE. I can’t argue with the department’s interpretation of the Residential Tenancies Act. Transition housing is explicitly not covered under that act. Even after considerable consultation undertaken recently around potential amendments to the Residential Tenancies Act, the GNWT Department of Justice has decided to continue to exclude transition housing from the act.
It appears that ECE has decided that tenants of hotels and motels are in transition housing and, therefore, not eligible for housing allowance from income support. ECE has also decided that tenants at the Salvation Army and YWCA accommodations are in transition housing, but those tenants are eligible for a housing allowance under income support.
So I have to ask the Minister, what is the definition of transition housing used by the department? What facilities fall under that definition of why or why not? What is ECE’s policy around transition housing and a client’s eligibility for funding for accommodation if they live in transition housing?
All I’m after is some clarity and consistency in the application of policy and, as the Minister likes to tell me, fairness for all income support clients. Thank you.
Thank you, Ms. Bisaro. Item 4, returns to oral questions. Item 5, recognition of visitors in the gallery.
I would like to welcome everyone in the public gallery here. Thank you for taking an interest in our proceedings.
