Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I have some questions from my Member's statement earlier to the Minister of Housing. Mr. Speaker, I would like to ask the Minister, at the moment our programs go by the total household gross income. Even if we went by a net income, this would make a huge difference for people to qualify for the programs that are offered through Housing, so I would like to ask the Minister what the department would be willing to do to make this change. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Masi. Minister responsible for the Northwest Territories Housing Corporation.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Currently within the Member's region the income threshold maximums are, for a single person, $91,900 a year they're allowed to make. With people up to five people in their house, they're allowed to make $107,000 a year to be able to, so anything under that is eligible for programs. We do have to recognize that we have 44,000 people in the Territories, and so we have to be conscious of that to make sure that we're providing our housing programs for those most in need, so those in low- and middleincome families. A total review of the income thresholds will be conducted, though, once we finish our engagement strategy that's coming up right away, here, and at that point we'll be looking at all incomes and making sure that the good food box is calculated within that so that our regions are represented appropriately.
I realize the department is doing their census through the communities, but I'd like to ask the Minister, what is the plan to help people in the remote communities maintain and repair their homes?
Masi. Minister of NWT Housing Corporation.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Currently, there's a number of programs that people can access to maintain their homes, to take care of their homes, again making sure that they do fall within the highest maximum income threshold. So within that region, we're talking $107,000. So if you make more than $107,000 you won't quality for the programs in that region; however, under that amount they can access a variety of programs. For example, we have the CARE Minor Program which would do minor renovations, a CARE Major Program that'll do things like fixing your roof, your furnaces up to $100,000. We have CARE Mobility which will help people to address any kind of mobility issues that they may have with their homes and then of course we have the SAFE Program which is available to everyone to make sure that their health and safety issues within their houses are addressed. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Mr. Speaker, I realize the thresholds of income that people can make even though it does sound like a lot, Mr. Speaker, you know living up in our age in the Beaufort Delta, it's the highest cost of living anywhere in Canada I'm sure, Mr. Speaker. So would the Minister be willing to consider introducing the regional approach to thresholds to qualify for different housing programs, so a person in Aklavik for example would have a higher income threshold to qualify for a program than a person, for example, in Yellowknife?
The NWT Housing Corporation already does take in the different regions. We have three different regions, so there is a difference already between Yellowknife and the areas up in the northern communities. So I'm not sure how we'll address that differently because we already have the regions, and, like I say, once the survey is brought in we will be doing a revamp of the income thresholds to make sure that they are meeting people's needs.
I should point out as well though, even though it's not part of the question, that people that are struggling to meet their housing needs may also want to talk to Income Support because they may qualify for an Income Support Program.
Masi. Oral questions. Member for Mackenzie Delta.
Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, as I mentioned, many of my constituents do not quality for these programs, so are we making home energy efficiency improvements available to people in the smaller communities? Mahsi.
There's a number of initiatives for energy efficiency. All new houses that are built by the NWT Housing Corporation are built to the EnerGuide 80 standards or better, so we're already addressing that. There's programs that people can access through the Arctic Energy Alliance, things such as the LEDs which will be coming out next year, so every public housing unit will getting LED lights put in.
There's a program that gives wood stoves, that's a cost-shared program by the community governments that they might want to access so people can put wood stoves into their units. Arctic Energy Alliance will do energy audits to see where people are and to make sure that people are energy efficient. So there are a number of programs that Arctic Energy Alliance also provides.
Masi. Member for Yellowknife Centre.
