Thank you, Mr. Speaker. In my Member’s statement today I raised the issue of the NWT Housing Corp and the response to the Auditor General’s report, and certainly the follow-up report by the Standing Committee on Government Operations. Mr. Speaker, my first question would be focussed, obviously, to the Minister, which is: in the report it clearly says there will be a revised statement to be released in early 2009 on how to address many of the symptoms and issues raised in the committee’s response and certainly highlighted by the Auditor General. When can we expect that response to this House? Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Hawkins. The honourable Minister responsible for the NWT Housing Corporation, Mr. Robert McLeod.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. We’re currently working on our strategic plan and we’re looking to have that released very early, and this will identify some of the progress that we’ve made to date on some of the recommendations from the Auditor General. Once we have that done, we will be sharing it with Members of this Assembly. Thank you.
Some of the issues that were raised in that report, certainly committee’s response, was the question of arrears and how it’s done. Mr. Speaker, does the Minister have any opinion or comment on how the Housing Corporation has been addressing that issue, and where does the issue of arrears and clearing up arrears stand with the Housing Corporation? Thank you.
Mr. Speaker, we’re working very closely, as far as public housing arrears go, with the LHOs to try and address some of their arrears issues and provide any input and help we can to them. As far as the mortgage arrears for homeownership, there’s been some good progress on those. We’ve had a lot of people who have refinanced and they’re making some excellent progress on the collection of mortgage arrears. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Further to my statement, Mr. Speaker, I highlighted the issue of the appeal mechanisms only come into force as of April 1st this year, and I’m just wondering what highlights the Minister can provide us to find out if it is working or if it isn’t working. Thank you.
Mr. Speaker, the appeals mechanism was implemented just recently and we really haven’t had time to evaluate it yet. Once we do, though, we will be providing that information to the Members. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. McLeod. Your final supplementary, Mr. Hawkins.
Mr. Speaker, the process of eviction obviously is a painful one for many people who are in rental accommodations. Of course, the Government of the Northwest Territories provides social housing, which is sort of the backstop of where they would go. When you’re evicted, you really have no one to call after that, other than, of course, your MLA or, hopefully, ministerial intervention. But the long and short of it is, the appeals mechanism needs to ensure that there’s a healthy process for people to engage before they end up on the street. Will this issue be further updated to make sure that there are lots of chances for people to solve some of those arrear problems when they’re in rental housing and to make sure that they stay in public housing the last option for most of these people? Thank you.
Mr. Speaker, the eviction of tenants from public housing is a long process and it usually takes a year by the time you get to the actual eviction itself. You’re given termination notices and tenants have the opportunity to speak to the LHO. If that fails, they have the opportunity to speak to the board. I’ve known cases where they’ve spoken to the board two or three times, or were given an opportunity to. All they’re asked to do is come up with a payment plan, as small as it is, as long as they show that they’re making some progress towards writing off their arrears, and the LHOs are more than willing to work with them. But, Mr. Speaker, it takes buy-in from the tenants. The LHOs are more than willing to work with the tenants and not have to get to the point to where they’re evicting them. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. McLeod. The honourable Member for Sahtu, Mr. Yakeleya.
