Mr. Speaker, I was looking in the main estimates and I've discovered what I assume must be a typo. The rental office is listed the activity services to the public, but last year two thirds of the applications to the office were filed by public housing agencies. Either the rental office should be listed under services to government, or the government is essentially monopolizing the public service for its own good and at the expense of small landlords, renters, and to the detriment of the public at large, as I note in my Member's statement.
Given that the length of time it takes the rental office to process applications has been identified by this government as a serious concern, I'd like to make sure the entire government is taking steps to solve it. That being said, I would like to ask the Housing Minister if the Housing Corporation monitors its applications to the rental officer so that it can take policy steps to help reduce the number of times that it makes applications to the office? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
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.
