Masi. Minister responsible for the NWT Housing Corporation.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Yes, we do monitor the applications to the rental officer. I do want to give credit to the Minister who was responsible for the NWT Housing Corporation before my time.
Previously, many years ago, people were in debt, like $60,000, $100,000. The debts were incredible, insurmountable, and people, they're going to be evicted at that point. The last Minister actually spent a lot of time actually getting people to try to pay their debts. It was very successful, with a 110 per cent collection rate, which means people were mostly paying up their current rents and dealing with their past rent arrears.
Because that was such a strong focus, my hope and my assumption will be that, in the future, now that people are more used to having to pay their rent, they know that they can't get away for it for years and that our applications will lessen because of that. Yes, we do monitor, and my hope is that they will lessen over the years. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
That was a lot of hope coming from the other side. Does the Housing Corporation currently maintain a policy outlining when and under what criteria it will engage the rental officer on issues with tenants?
Yes, we do maintain a policy, and it's called Under the Collection Policy and Procedures. My direction actually when I took over is: don't leave it for three months. As soon as somebody is in arrears for over a month, you start the process. I apologize if that does cause inconveniences, but my job is to take care of 2,600 people in homes in the communities, and so it's important that people are provided their support by the eviction. Eviction is the last resort provided in the rental tenancy order so that they can start carrying their arrears once they owe only a month or so versus years of debt. Yes, we do follow a policy, and under my direction, it is stringently reinforced that says, as soon as people aren't paying within a month or so, start the eviction process, so that people have a chance to maintain their homes.
I appreciate what the Minister is saying, but the fact remains that the government is monopolizing a service meant for the public. Much in the same way that the government and the Housing Corporation pay higher rates for things like power, perhaps the Minister would voluntarily pay higher application fees than private individuals to help the rental office fund another position to help the independent landlords out in this situation. Would the Minister do that?
It isn't the responsibility of the Northwest Territories Housing Corporation to pay for the rental officer. There are a lot of services. If there are not enough building contractors in the communities, does that mean we should start new businesses? If there are not enough suppliers, should we start the suppliers? Our job is to keep people in houses, and that is my priority.
Masi. Oral questions. Member for Hay River North.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. That's the point. They're keeping people in houses, and a lot of times, it is people who aren't paying rent to independent landlords.
I know the corporation has engaged in a broad strategic renewal, looking at a lot of its policies. The Minister mentioned that arrears are what is taking up a lot of the time. What is the Minister doing, other than ensuring that arrears are going to the rental officer right away, to deal with it? Are there any other pre-emptive things that the Minister is doing? I know she mentioned one earlier, sort of a work program. Is there anything else they are doing like that? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Yes, every LHO is notified as soon as someone is behind their rent, and then they can actually provide counselling to people to try to ensure that they can catch up on their rent.
We do allow people to enter repayment plans. We try to work with them to say, "If you keep current with your current rent, can you pay a few dollars towards your arrears?" to keep people in, and then, finally, like I said, we are trying the new pilot project, the housing support worker, that when we get notified that someone is falling behind, we send in a worker to see if we can actually work one-on-one with those families to try to assist them so that they can keep themselves out of the Rental Office. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Mr. Speaker, I wish to table the following document, entitled "Letter to Minister Bennett from Gary Vivian, President NWT and Nunavut Chamber of Mines Regarding Northern Minerals Industry Submission on the Arctic Policy Framework, dated February 28, 2018." Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Masi. Tabling of documents. Minister of Health and Social Services.
Mr. Speaker, I wish to table the following document, entitled "Follow-Up Letter for Oral Question 119-18(3): Medical Travel Coverage." Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Masi. Tabling of documents. Minister of Environment and Natural Resources.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I wish to table the following document, entitled "Follow-Up Letter for Oral Question 139-18(3): Waste Water Resource Management Strategy." Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Masi. Tabling of documents. Minister of Justice.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I wish to table the following three documents entitled "Follow-Up Letter for Oral Question 138-18(3) and Oral Question 144-18(3): Rental Office Wait Times in the NWT"; "Follow-Up Letter for Oral Question 150-18(3): Proposed Access to Information and Protection Privacy Legislation"; and "Follow-Up Letter for Oral Question 186-18(3): Perimeter Fence Repair at North Slave Correctional Complex." Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Masi. Tabling of documents. Member for Kam Lake.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I would like to table one document, "Fraser Institute Annual Survey of Mining Companies 2017." Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Masi. Tabling of documents. Member for Frame Lake.
Merci, Monsieur le President. I would like to table the following document. It's a joint letter from 14 downstream Indigenous governments regarding the Site C Dam, addressed to the Premier of British Columbia, dated November 30, 2017. Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.
Masi. Tabling of documents. Member for Nahendeh.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I would like to table two documents. The first one is from the Canadian Press, September 11, 2016, article, "Site C project not keeping with Aboriginal treaty rights or UN declaration: Bellegard"; and the second one is from Amnesty International in 2016, "The Point of No Return, Human Rights of Indigenous People in Canada Threatened by the Site C Dam." Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
I now call Committee of the Whole to order. What is the wish of committee? Mr. Beaulieu.
Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Chairman, committee would like to consider Tabled Document 63-18(3), Main Estimates 2018-2019, with NWT Housing Corporation and Legislative Assembly as items under consideration. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
Thank you, Mr. Beaulieu. Does committee agree?
Agreed.
Thank you, committee. We will consider the document after a brief recess.
---SHORT RECESS
I will now call Committee of the Whole back to order. Committee, we have agreed to consider Tabled Document 63-18(3), Main Estimates 2018-2019, beginning with the NWT Housing Corporation, which begins on page 369 of the document. I will turn to the Minister for opening comments. Minister Cochrane.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. I am pleased to present the 2018-2019 Main Estimates for the Northwest Territories Housing Corporation. While the Northwest Territories Housing Corporation's estimates propose an operating budget decrease of $845,000 or 0.8 per cent from the 2017-2018 Main Estimates, the Government of the Northwest Territories contribution is increasing by $1.5 million to $76.4 million.
The proposed estimates include forced growth of $550,000 for housing, water, and sanitation services, as well as an increase of $2.9 million towards the Royal Canadian Mounted Police Housing Initiative, bringing the 2018-2019 investment to $8.4 million. This strategic investment will help ensure that our communities are able to staff policing personnel and will also contribute incremental revenue that will assist the Northwest Territories Housing Corporation address declines to date in the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation funding for public housing operations.
The 2018-2019 Main Estimates include a new revenue item of $3.6 million related to the federal Northern Housing Fund, whereby the Government of the Northwest Territories will receive $36 million over the next 10 years to address priority northern housing issues. Further details on partnership funding from the National Housing Strategy are expected over the coming months.
These estimates continue to support the priorities of the 18th Legislative Assembly by addressing the cost of living by implementing northern solutions for northern housing such as the Fuel Tank Replacement Initiative, utilizing $300,000 to make homeowners' houses and the environment safer, and $2.9 million for the New Home Program. A housing support worker pilot will be launched, with $170,000 committed for 2018-2019. To provide opportunities for public housing tenants to purchase their homes, $400,000 will be invested to repair and make ready to purchase 20 public housing units as part of the Northwest Territories Housing Corporation's three-year pilot initiative to sell up to 60 public housing units.
The Northwest Territories Housing Corporation will continue its strategic investments in supporting the mandate priority of assisting seniors aging in place by investing $3 million in 2018-2019 to begin the construction of a mixed-rent seniors housing complex in Yellowknife. To inform this and future seniors housing investments by the Northwest Territories Housing Corporation, a seniors planning study is now under way that will help identify current and emerging seniors housing needs as well as provide valuable insight into what housing features seniors are most interested in.
In order to prepare for partnership opportunities that may arise when the federal government announces details of the National Housing Strategy, the Northwest Territories Housing Corporation is investing $900,000 for the Community Housing Support Initiative, which provides support for local and Indigenous governments to develop projects of their own design. This program will provide a template for tripartite partnerships between Indigenous, territorial, and federal governments.
That concludes my opening remarks, and I would be happy to answer Members' questions. Thank you.
Thank you, Minister. I understand you have witnesses you wish to bring to the Chamber. Sergeant-at-Arms, please escort the witnesses into the Chamber. Minister, would you please introduce your witnesses for the record.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. On my left is Mr. Ron Williams. Tom Williams, the president of the Northwest Territories Housing Corporation. Sorry, family members. On my right is Mr. Jim Martin. He is the vice president for finance and infrastructure services. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Minister. Welcome back to the witnesses. Committee, we have agreed to forgo opening comments. The departmental total can be found on page 373 of the main estimates. It is $103 million approximately. We will consider the four activities and the one information item contained in the detail before considering the departmental total.
The first activity, community housing services, begins on page 376. Comments or questions from committee for this activity?
NWT Housing Corporation, community housing services, operations expenditure summary, $56,634,000. Does committee agree?
Agreed.
Mr. O'Reilly.
Thanks, Mr. Chair. I am just looking at schedule 3 of the business plans, the public version from the website, and I see that there is going to be a reduction to local housing, LHO funding contributions of $217,000. Can someone explain what that is all about? Thanks, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Mr. O'Reilly. Minister.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. We did a review of the local housing organizations, and we found that a number of them actually had surpluses, so we have scaled back so that those surpluses, it is not okay to have local housing organizations having surpluses. We lowered the amount of funding to them, and we will be looking at different opportunities for them to actually bring in revenue and, if needed, we will increase those as well. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you. Mr. O'Reilly.
