Debates of March 11, 2019 (day 68)

Date
March
11
2019
Session
18th Assembly, 3rd Session
Day
68
Members Present
Hon. Glen Abernethy, Mr. Beaulieu, Mr. Blake, Hon. Caroline Cochrane, Ms. Green, Hon. Jackson Lafferty, Hon. Bob McLeod, Hon. Robert McLeod, Mr. McNeely, Hon. Alfred Moses, Mr. Nadli, Mr. Nakimayak, Mr. O'Reilly, Hon. Wally Schumann, Hon. Louis Sebert, Mr. Simpson, Mr. Testart, Mr. Thompson, Mr. Vanthuyne
Topics
Statements

Question 672-18(3): Government Support for Individuals Providing Housing Services

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. In one of my communities, we have a couple who opened their home to homelessness and people who are in need. They do an amazing job, and I don't want to embarrass them so I won't give their names. My questions are for the Minister responsible for Housing: does the Minister know of any programs that this couple can access to improve their home so that it will be a warmer and welcoming home? Thank you, Mr. Speaker?

Speaker: MR. SPEAKER

Masi. Minister responsible for the NWT Housing Corporation.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. First of all, I just want to thank the Member for bringing this forward. I also want to encourage the Member to have the family maybe contact our office through an email, and then I can share that with other departments such as Health and Social Services, ECE. It wouldn't be the first time that we've taken an interdepartmental focus on helping people out in our communities, or even organizations. I would like to also encourage the individuals to go and speak with their local housing organization, or go into the district office to see what kind of programs they'd be involved in. To get more of the details for the individuals, any Members who might come across such an issue, contact me and send me an email, and then we can get the process started. I do want to appreciate. as the Member said, the family that is taking in people into their homes. It's unfortunate, and if there's a way we can help, we'll definitely look at that.

I thank the Minister. He read all my questions over here, and he was able to answer most of them. I understand an email, but will the Minister be willing to work with me and the family to set up a meeting with his staff to do something like that? I mean, an email would work, but maybe a face-to-face may be beneficial.

Yes, I will definitely commit to having staff work with the Member as well as the family, but to get the ball rolling to get things started and looked into right away, and to get me started having conversations with some of my Cabinet colleagues, I would encourage that the Member work with the family to get an email sent to us with the details so we can look into how we can solve the issue.

Speaker: MR. SPEAKER

Oral questions. Member for Nahendeh.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker, and I appreciate the Minister's willingness to open up and get an email there and work with his colleagues. Does the Minister know of anything that we can reach out and tell the family about right now through Housing? Are there any homeless programs or something like that, which we're able to work with? This will be my last question. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Really, just get us a phone number, even, and we can get staff to call the family and start working on what kind of programs they might be able to apply for. I don't know the situation fully, but we definitely want to help. Get us a phone number. Get it to my office. We'll make sure that staff reach out. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Speaker: MR. SPEAKER

Oral questions. Member for Sahtu.