Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Today in Deline about 5 percent of the population are living in warehouses, shacks and tents. Why? Because this government tries hard to make housing available but falls short of the mark. The Deline Housing Association has issued 30 eviction notices in the past few months; mostly, if not entirely, for unpaid rent. We are left with people living in cold and dangerous conditions; conditions that lead to disease from lack of proper sanitation and other problems.
Years ago the government decided it must do something to get people off their land, so they built housing units to bring them into the community. There was no follow through or perhaps only half-hearted attempts at teaching people that the houses they were given by the government were not free, or that the $2 rent may increase in the future to $5, and that the land that they had was not really the land that they thought they owned and that it was up for grabs. Now many people learn on their own that they have serious responsibilities to pay rent. Some fall through the cracks. The Housing Corporation today works with some of these people, but many still fall through the cracks. So when they get far behind in their rent, they get the sharp end of the boot: eviction.
It is the job of this government to protect our people. We care about them and do not want them getting sick from living in shacks or tents. I have to say yes. Or is this government any different from the government of 30 or 40 years ago that started the whole thing with public housing? There are no easy solutions, but there may be some solutions if we turn our minds to it. Let’s keep the door open and see for ourselves what we can do to keep these people in their homes.
I’m going to close my statement today with the same words I closed yesterday. This is where government can and must stand up for the people. It’s time we got this sorted out.
Thank you, Mr. Yakeleya. The honourable Member for Kam Lake, Mr. Ramsay.
