Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Today, Mr. Speaker, my Member’s statement was on a family in the community of Paulatuk being evicted from the housing unit. Is the Minister willing to review this particular case in Paulatuk to advise us on how he will work with other NWT agencies and client services to stop this eviction? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Jacobson. The honourable Minister of Housing, Mr. Robert McLeod.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The termination and eviction process is a fairly long one. It is not one that they just decided to do on the spur of the moment. They usually give the tenants an opportunity to come up with a repayment plan. Sometimes it is all the local housing authorities are looking for, is just a commitment from the tenants to come up with a repayment plan. Eviction is basically the last notice, Mr. Speaker. Thank you.
I would just like to remind the Minister that the Housing Association is run out of Inuvik. They fly people into the community once or twice a month to take all the proper forms they have to fill out to get their rental assessment. But, Mr. Speaker, the biggest problem is not having somebody there to contact the people and do these assessments with the client. Why is the NWT Housing Association having to evict people in the middle of winter and not able to work with the family? This is unacceptable, Mr. Speaker.
Mr. Speaker, Housing doesn’t choose the time of year when people are evicted. It is not something that Housing enjoys doing, but there is a process that has to be followed. Part of the process involves paying your rent or making arrangements to pay your rent, coming up with a payment plan. Usually they are pretty accepting of any tenant that wants to come forward and work out a payment plan and then they will have the opportunity to stay in their unit. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Mr. Speaker, if the family does come forward, will the Minister and his department accept his plan of going forward to stay in the housing unit? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Mr. Speaker, when it comes to this point where there is an eviction notice, usually it goes through a rental officer. There is a local board and these tenants could speak to the local board about trying to work out a plan. When it comes to the rental officers, usually it is the last part of the process. When it is an eviction, that is when it is usually a court ordered eviction. But before it gets to that point, there is always an opportunity for them to speak to the board and try to get the board to reverse the process if they come up with a repayment plan. But what they would need first and foremost, Mr. Speaker, is a commitment from the tenant that they are willing to take part in this repayment plan. Thank you.
Can the Minister identify the huge costs of eviction of a family, which would involve emergency travel to another community like Yellowknife -- and emergency housing is already crowded -- shelter and perhaps temporary arrangements for children, compare the cost of providing positive supports for a family? So that, perhaps, the result is an issue for the Housing Corporation. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Mr. Speaker, this is not a process that any LHO likes to be a part of. It is often the last straw when it comes to this particular process. I know from history, Mr. Speaker, that they are always willing to work with the tenants of the housing authority. At the same time, we need a commitment from the tenant that if there is a ruling, that they will abide by that ruling and work out a repayment plan, then Housing is usually pretty accepting of that.
It is a huge cost, obviously, if they have to put them up in a shelter or move them to shelter, but there is also a very huge cost in the amount of arrears that are with the Housing Corporation every year. We are up to $10 million now in public housing arrears. We are also up to $10 million now in mortgage arrears. Mr. Speaker, this is not a process that any housing authority enjoys, but it is one where steps have to be taken to come up with plans and work with the tenants. All we are asking for is a commitment from the tenants to take part in this process. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. McLeod. The honourable Member for Frame Lake, Ms. Bisaro.
