Mahsi cho, Mr. Speaker. [English translation not provided.]
Mr. Speaker, the NWT Housing Corporation has policies that guide them as they attempt to reduce the housing needs across the Northwest Territories. These policies are designed to address three areas of core need as identified in social housing across this country. Those areas of core need are: adequacy where families have structural, electrical, mechanical or architectural issues with their houses; suitability where families do not have enough bedrooms to accommodate their family sizes; and affordability, where more than 30 percent of the gross income is being used to house their families.
In Tu Nedhe the majority of the needs are adequacy. This means that the people in Tu Nedhe have adequacy issues with their homes and cannot afford to complete the repairs without the assistance of the NWT Housing Corporation.
I believe that the Housing Corporation must change its policies to allow them to address the issues of houses across the NWT that have adequacy issues. I do not feel that the Housing Corporation should continue to build any new homes in Tu Nedhe.
I think that the NWT Housing Corporation should begin the process of going from door to door using local program officers, and work towards addressing the greatest needs in Tu Nedhe according to the Housing Corporation’s own document, the 2009 Needs Survey. I am very concerned, as are the constituents of Lutselk’e and Fort Resolution, that more new houses will be built for a few lucky people to get into those units when the majority of the people who are homeowners cannot afford repairs and watch their houses fall into disrepair and eventually beyond economical repair.
I feel the first step towards addressing this serious issue is to decentralize NWT Housing Corporation staff so that they can begin to build files on these clients and take them through the process and avoid the potential of having huge deferred maintenance issues with the homeowners across the territory.
I urge the Minister of NWT Housing Corporation to shift resources from new construction to renovations of existing units, and expand those resources...
Mr. Beaulieu, your time for your Member’s statement has expired.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I seek unanimous consent to conclude my statement.
---Unanimous consent granted
I urge the Minister of NWT Housing Corporation to shift resources from new construction to renovations of existing units, and expand those resources by using a decentralized model by putting program officers and project officers in the communities where they are delivering the programs.
Thank you, Mr. Beaulieu. The honourable Member for Nunakput, Mr. Jacobson.
