Mahsi cho, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, today I have questions for the Minister of the NWT Housing Corporation. In the past, Mr. Speaker, the Housing Corporation had programs such as the Senior Citizens Home Repair Program, Seniors and Disabled Preventative Maintenance Program and so on. Those programs have been eliminated and replaced with other programs; mind you, but there doesn’t seem to be a clear indication that the NWT Housing Corporation identifies different groups like seniors and families and so on. Seniors are usually on fixed incomes. So I want to ask the Minister if the Housing Corporation has a strategy for addressing the needs of senior homeowners. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Beaulieu. The honourable Minister responsible for the NWT Housing Corporation, Mr. Robert McLeod.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, Housing does do what it can to assist the seniors. There is the Senior Preventative Maintenance Program out there. The seniors would apply and once they are into the system, they are given the system every year. This includes the servicing of their furnace and that. We are always trying to address the needs of our seniors. Thank you.
Staying with the core needs of the various communities, I had discovered in the past that some of the core needs in some communities were as high as 80 percent in the Sahtu and as low as 6 percent in other parts of the Northwest Territories, which is well below the national average. I want to ask the Minister if the Housing Corporation has plans to address the communities with the highest core need and maybe move some funds to the communities where the highest core needs percentage is in these communities. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
We are just in the process of doing our housing needs survey and this goes a long way in determining the core needs of the communities, and if there are adjustments that need to be made so infrastructure or units are put in those communities with the highest core needs, then those adjustments will be made then and hopefully that will adjust some of the core needs of the communities most in need. Thank you.
Does the Minister and the Housing Corporation have a plan to help families that are clearly in core need but appear to be outside of the four programs, that don’t seem to be captured within the four programs that are currently offered by the Housing Corporation but are clearly in core need? Thank you.
The Housing Corporation is committed to try and help as many people in core need as possible. There is always the criteria that they have to meet to get into some of the programs, but we are always looking to address the issue of working with those that are the highest need. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. McLeod. Final supplementary, Mr. Beaulieu.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the Minister speaks of the needs survey being completed soon. Once the needs survey is completed, is there a plan to expand the programs so the majority of the constituents across the Territories can be captured within one program or another that the Housing Corporation will be offering, as opposed to staying within the current programs and hopefully the people who are core need fit into those programs? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
The Housing Corporation is always trying to fit people into the programs. They’ve expanded the scope of the programs sometimes to try to fit as many people in as possible and we are always looking to find ways that we can address those that are most in need. We have to understand, Mr. Speaker, that a lot of the people that are in need, they have to meet the criteria of the housing programs to be eligible to participate in some of the programs. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. McLeod. The honourable Member for Yellowknife Centre, Mr. Hawkins.
