Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Recently we have had some changes in some of our policies and programs relative to seniors, some of the criteria for our programs for seniors. One of them, for instance, is that we are now charging rent for seniors. We have a rent scale for seniors in public housing.
I have some questions today for the Minister responsible for the NWT Housing Corporation. With the changes that have come into place, now that seniors are paying rent in our public housing, I’d like to ask the Minister how the income levels are set which determine the rent that a senior will pay in any month. Thank you.
Thank you, Ms. Bisaro. The honourable Minister responsible for the NWT Housing Corporation, Mr. McLeod.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I would like to ask the Member to repeat her question, if you don’t mind.
Certainly, I am happy to. With the changes that have taken place with regard to rent scales, now that seniors are paying rent in public housing, I’d like to know from the Minister how the income levels are set which determine the rent that a senior will pay in any one month. Thank you.
Mr. Speaker, the income levels for the seniors are whatever household income that they bring in with all the different types of income that they are eligible for. As well, we have a $1,000 exemption for the seniors. So $1,000 is exempted from determining their rent that they pay. Thank you.
Thanks to the Minister for that. Most of our seniors in the NWT are on a fixed income. If they are on a pension, then they are on a fixed income and it changes very little. But courtesy of the federal government, the Government of Canada, periodically we get pension income increases due to inflation over time and there are adjustments to people’s incomes. So when a senior’s income increases beyond a certain level and puts them into a second level for their assessment of rent, I’d like to know whether or not when we know that seniors’ pension incomes are changing upwards, are the levels that are used to assess seniors’ rent also adjusted for inflation over time. Thank you.
Mr. Speaker, the income levels for seniors, especially those that are on a very fixed income, the rent assessment won’t change very much. We do have a scale where they are allowed to get up to a certain amount in increases before the rent changes. With the small increases they get with pensions especially, that really doesn’t affect the minimum rent or the rent that they will be paying. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thanks to the Minister for that. Unfortunately, I have to say to the Minister that if it really doesn’t affect seniors, that means that some of them are affected. I realize that we have a range of income and that most seniors fall in that range, but when they get to the top of that range and go over it and into the next bracket, it’s going to create problems. So there will be some people who are affected.
I’d like to ask the Minister if the impact of increases to pension and to fixed income, if he would look into that, if he would investigate the impact that it would have on our seniors who are now paying rent, and if the Housing Corporation would develop a policy to address it. Thank you.
Mr. Speaker, we have been investigating, from the beginning of this, how it is affecting our seniors and we continue to look at it. We work with the seniors again. They do have the benefit of the $1,000 exemption, and the bracket would take a significant increase for them to get into the next bracket.
However, the Member asked if I will investigate. I will look at it and I will provide information to the Member. Thank you very much.
Thank you, Mr. McLeod. Final, short supplementary, Ms. Bisaro.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Thanks to the Minister. I appreciate that commitment. It may not affect too many, but I think if it affects one of our elders or one of our seniors, then it’s important that we look at the impact.
One of the other things that I would like to ask the Minister, there have been instances relayed to me of inconsistencies in rent assessments between seniors, between different LHOs in our communities. So I’d like to know from the Minister what the Housing Corporation does to monitor rent assessments at the LHO level and between LHOs to ensure that there is fairness and consistent assessments across our territory. Thank you.
Mr. Speaker, our programs are designed to be more consistent, so all three zones are treated equally. If the Member has specific examples of inconsistencies, I would be pleased to sit down with the Member and hear from the Member any particular cases and we will investigate.
With the new rent scale program, it is very consistent across the board. If there are any inconsistencies the Member pointed out, we would like to know about them so we can address them. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. McLeod. The honourable Member for Deh Cho, Mr. Nadli.
