Mahsi cho, Mr. Speaker. Today I talked about programs and policies of the NWT Housing Corporation. I would like to follow up my Member’s statement with questions for the Minister responsible for the NWT Housing Corporation.
Mr. Speaker, can the Minister tell me if an evaluation of the four new programs, or programs that were introduced a few years ago, has been undertaken to determine their effectiveness in taking clients out of core need? Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Beaulieu. Honourable Minister responsible for the NWT Housing Corporation, Mr. Robert McLeod.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. We will be undertaking an evaluation of the programs in 2010-2011. We had originally intended on doing it this year, but we spent those resources making some adjustments to programs because of affordability issues. I have also directed the department that the evaluation used to identify gaps between programs and some recommended solutions for those gaps. Thank you.
Mr. Speaker, it takes different types of programs to address different types of need. For example, seniors groups and singles groups may have different programs to address their needs. I’d like to ask the Minister if the Minister can tell me if the NWT Housing Corporation has a strategy to address core need levels of the various groups such as seniors, singles and various sized families. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Mr. Speaker, we’re just in the process of finalizing our housing needs survey and that goes a long way in evaluating how our programs fit the specific target groups that were mentioned by the Member. If we need to adjust our programs and that, to meet some of the needs, this is our opportunity to do so. Thank you.
Mr. Speaker, as is the case for addressing specific groups like seniors and singles and so on, specific communities also have different priorities and different core needs. Can the Minister tell me if the NWT Housing Corporation has a strategy to address communities with the highest need on a priority basis? Thank you.
Mr. Speaker, again, the housing needs survey will go a long way in determining the needs of some of the communities in the Member’s riding, and we use this as an opportunity to adjust our programs and services and concentrate on some of the priority communities. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. McLeod. Your final supplementary, Mr. Beaulieu.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Assuming that the needs survey is roughly along the lines of the past needs survey as far as core need goes, can the Minister advise me if you will provide direction to the NWT Housing Corporation to ensure there are strategies in place to specifically target core need? Thank you.
Mr. Speaker, the Housing Corporation is working hard to address the needs of all communities across the Northwest Territories and all the Members. But I can advise the Member that I have provided direction to the Housing Corporation and we are taking very seriously the needs of a lot of the smaller communities and we will be working with the communities. When we have the results of the survey, I’ll look forward to sharing those results with Members and all interested stakeholders. From there, we can map out some direction for the Northwest Territories Housing Corporation. Thanks.
Thank you, Mr. McLeod. The honourable Member for Yellowknife Centre, Mr. Hawkins.
