Thank you, Mr. Speaker. We’ve heard already today from other Members how much housing in the NWT is in difficulty. There are lots of problems: inconsistent application of guidelines, policies which are fine in theory but do not work in reality, people living rent free who have the means to pay, people quitting good jobs so their income stays down and their rent stays at a workable level, people have accumulated huge arrears because their rent assessments are incorrect or unadjusted, people denied public housing when vacant homes exist in the community, people unable to access adequate housing when their apprehended children are ready to be returned to them. The list is endless.
In numerous meetings with NWT Housing Corporation Ministers and staff over my time here -- three short years, but sometimes it feels like three very long years -- I and other Regular Members have consistently asked for flexibility in the Housing Corporation’s approach to the application of their programs and policies. I know that on more than one occasion I have asked the Minister to do an all-inclusive review of the corporation’s activities and policies.
In the 2008 Auditor General’s Report on the NWT Housing Corporation, Ms. Fraser was quite critical of the corporation. The NWT Housing Corporation presented a response to the Auditor General’s findings and I was hopeful that some comprehensive evaluation and review of the corporation’s policies and practices would come to fruition. There has not been any move in that direction and it is desperately needed, even more so since the responsibility for rent assessments was transferred back to the Housing Corporation from Education, Culture and Employment.
I did a search of Hansard and it turned up two commitments made by the Minister for the Housing Corporation made in this House, one from February 11th of this year to review programs, and later a second from May 20th to review rent scales. Both are necessary but they’re only part of what is required.
The Minister and the president of the NWT Housing Corporation must acknowledge that a thorough and comprehensive analysis of the programs, policies and procedures is overdue. They need to test the suitability of each of those for our residents. They must determine if they are still relative and appropriate at this stage of the evolution of our Territory. I believe many are not working as they should and if something’s not working, changes must be made until it does work.
