Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My questions are directed to the Minister responsible for the Northwest Territories Housing Corporation in regard to individuals who applied under the HELP program for homeownership in regard to the Homeownership Entry Level Program.
Mr. Speaker, I have constituents in my riding who have been approved for the program. They have been in their units, they have been paying monthly in regard to their payment responsibility, and also taking responsibility for the utility costs and the operational costs of the units. But yet, Mr. Speaker, now they’re being told, sorry, you have to vacate the premises, because apparently there’s a fine line there that says you have to be fully employed in order to be able to occupy one of these units.
Mr. Speaker, realistically, in the Northwest Territories, in the riding I come from, the majority of people that are the working poor depend on seasonal employment. In the Inuvik region, that is the reality of that region. I’d like to ask the Minister exactly why is it that these individuals, who don’t have arrears, they have been faithful in regard to making their payments, are now being told, sorry, you’re not fully employed, you must now leave the premises. I’d like to ask the Minister why is that practice being put in place, considering we have some 246 units unoccupied at this time.
Thank you, Mr. Krutko. The honourable Minister responsible for the Northwest Territories Housing Corporation, Mr. Robert McLeod.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I am aware of this certain situation and I have committed to following up on it. The Member raises a valid point, though. We do have folks out there who are seasonal workers and at the present time they could be unemployed. But I have committed to following up on that, because all the reasons that he stated are correct. My understanding is they’re able to make all the payments and there really are no arrears. I am following up on that as we speak. Thank you.
Mr. Speaker, hopefully this is not the practice right across the board in regard to the corporation, because the whole idea of the HELP program is to help people transition from social housing to eventual homeownership and the idea is that those people will, basically, at some point, be able to acquire that unit through paying a mortgage or whatnot down the road, but get them transitioned from social housing to homeownership. I’d like to ask the Minister, in light of these circumstances, could he also check and make sure that this practice is not across the board throughout the Northwest Territories, because, like I say, we have some 246 units that are presently vacant and a large portion of that are some 58 HELP units. I think it’s important that we do whatever we can do to occupy those units. Can the Minister also check to see if this practice is being implemented elsewhere?
Mr. Speaker, it is our goal to try and get people into homeownership, and as the Member had mentioned, the HELP program is one way to transition them into homeownership. Understanding that we do have a lot of seasonal workers in the Northwest Territories, I will follow up on the Member’s suggestion that we look territorial-wide and see if this is a practice that goes on, because a lot of these people will gain permanent employment or gain employment at one time or another and we have to make sure that we have these folks into some of our homeownership units and not have them vacate and then once they get a permanent job, bring them back into the system. I will commit to the Member and to this House that I will follow up on this just to make sure that it’s not a common practice that is happening across the Northwest Territories. Thank you.
Mr. Speaker, again, I’d just like to get some assurance and also get the Minister to maybe check into the traditional communities that we do have out there where a lot of people still continue to sustain themselves through hunting, fishing, trapping, and also, like I stated, there is the seasonal economy and people do earn income, basically, on the different activities. I think there has to be an understanding from the regional staff that they really understand what they mean by way of how they interpret full-time employment, because we do have seasonal employment, people do different types of activities. Again, I’d just like to maybe ask the Minister if he can get people to clarify the interpretation of “season employment” versus “traditional economies” in the Northwest Territories, especially for our traditional communities. Thank you.
Mr. Speaker, I will follow up on the Member’s suggestion. If we have tenants that are able to meet all their commitments, which in my understanding in this particular case, they were meeting all of their commitments, then it’s something that we have to have a look at. If we get into situations where it’s difficult for tenants to meet their utility costs and that, then that’s also something that we need to look at. But in the particular case, they were meeting all their commitments, so I will follow up on that and I will also follow up on the income and what constitutes seasonal employment and traditional activities. I will do a thorough follow-up on this particular case, that way we can be assured that it’s not something that will be happening too much across the Northwest Territories.
Thank you, Mr. McLeod. Your final supplementary, Mr. Krutko.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I’d like to ask the Minister if I can get a quick turnaround on this. The family is waiting for my phone call and they are wondering what the status is they are in, because they were supposed to be out of there yesterday. Again, they’re just wondering what their situation is and I think the sooner we deal with this problem, I think it will also hopefully bring resolution to this ASAP. I’d like to request a quick response on this one. Thank you.
I can commit to that. I have asked the corporation to give a quick turnaround on this particular issue. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. McLeod. The honourable Member for Kam Lake, Mr. Ramsay.
